The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness has put together this letter to your MPP and City Council
Link to Letter
introduction and wording included below
Introduction (from CAEH)
(please see original at caeh.ca)
Faced with a high cost of living and unaffordable housing, homelessness is growing in communities across Ontario, and more and more people are being forced to live in encampments in public spaces.
Nobody should live in a tent. Public spaces are not meant to house people—we want people living in homes and kids playing in parks. We all want an effective and compassionate solution to encampments.
Police enforcement and the threat of jail time are not the answers.
Premier Ford and big city mayors from across Ontario are preparing to use police force and the threat of prison to force our neighbours out of encampments—violating their rights and placing them in danger.
In natural disasters, like fires or floods, where we see large-scale loss of housing, cities respond by protecting people from the emergency and helping them move quickly back into their homes. When getting back home takes time, temporary housing is provided. Police don’t arrest people because their home burnt down.
Faced with any other disaster, we trust governments to respond quickly and compassionately with accommodation that meets their needs. Homelessness is an emergency —and should be dealt with accordingly.
Homelessness is also housing problem—people in encampments need a housing solution. You cannot force someone into treatment that doesn’t exist, and even if it did, they would still be homeless when they leave. The only cure for homelessness is a home.
Communities need to work hand-in-hand with those directly impacted to find safe, secure housing that meets their needs.
Anything else is expensive and ineffective—and cruel.
Letter Wording (may be edited - optional)
I am writing to express my opposition to Premier Ford utilizing the notwithstanding clause to dissolve encampments in Ontario. Please do not support this—it’s cruel, it’s shameful, and it’s ineffective at solving the problem.
Our neighbours deserve to be treated with compassion and respect. Our community deserves a solution to encampments that works.
“Encampment sweeps”, the use of enforcement, the penalty of incarceration, forced treatment—these are not only expensive and ineffective, but they are also inhumane and uncompassionate. They are a violation of the human rights of our neighbours, and I will not stand by silently.
Homelessness and encampments are the result of a high cost of living, and unaffordable housing. These are not things we can arrest or imprison our way out of.
Encampments can only be effectively resolved through a housing-focused response, working hand-in-hand with those affected to find solutions that meet their needs.
Resources and support exist for communities like ours that are struggling with surging homelessness and growing encampments. As a citizen of your city, I hope that you find a solution that works for our community—our whole community, including our neighbours who live in encampments.
EBO is happy to share events and opinions of our members and community partners, provided they fit within our mandate.
This particular issue is in line with our values of accountability, collaboration, democracy, diversity, empowerment, equity, and inclusivity. It also fits within our founding principals of local community-based organizing, creating safe spaces, and being solutions-focused, as well as our key focal points of decolonization, democratizing decision-making in local government, and healthy urbanism
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