Terry Paul Choyce
For the February 2006 issue of Source Magazine
It is a freezing winter day in Halifax. Outside of the Salvation Army on Gottigen St.there is a young man sitting alone.Last night he slept at the Metro Turning Point Shelter, he had breakfast at Brunswick St. United Church, and now he is just killing time. He is cold. He is depressed..He left his home in Cape Breton at 16 when his parents separated. He hated school, and dropped out. He has had several jobs, all of them low paying. He lost them for many reasons. As a boy he wanted to be a firefighter. That won't happen now. He knows several of the people on the street, but he doesn't really have a friend. He doesn't trust anyone that much. His name is Morgan. He tells no one his real last name. He is ashamed of who he is and how he lives. He has lost hope.
On June 17, 2004 a survey was conducted for one day only, to find out how many homeless people were in Halifax that day, why they were homeless, and how old they were . That day there were 266 people who were visibly without a home. They were 14 to 74 years old. 67% were male and 33% were female. Family violence and family breakdown was cited by 32% of them as the immediate cause of their being on the streets. 26% said they were homeless because of substance abuse, 23% because they could not find affordable housing, 19% because they had no income, and 14% had mental illness that was not being adequately treated. 58% said they had health problems, with 4% reporting major disabilities. Metro has 162 beds for destitute people. That means that on June 17, 2004, 104 people slept on the streets, in the parks, in unlocked cars - anywhere they could find to lie down in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I suspect many more than that were "couch surfing" crashing for one night at a time with a friend or relative. The homeless problem in our city, in our country, is atrocious, especially becausewe can afford to help them.
On Dec. 21, 2005 I presided at the interfaith memorial service to remember those who have died in poverty. Brunswick St. United Church was filled with people who came to light a candle or say a prayer for those who died, often alone, often tragically. I knew one of the men who died, Charles Metcalf, who was a gentle, generous giant of a man who froze to death in Point Pleasant park last year. I led his memorial service too, and again the church was full. People come out to honour the dead. Few people help those who are living and who are in grave need. At the end of the service in Dec. a very thin man named Frank came up to me. He said a lot of wonderful words were said that day. He has heard lots of words. But he was dying of cancer, he was sleeping at Turning Point, his family had just kicked him out again, and no one was helping him. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do. He desperately needs action and care, not words. A candle will be lit for him next year, I'm afraid.
The problem of homelessness is very complicated. There is no one solution to this. But there are many, many things we can do as a society to alleviate much of the poverty in our country. For one, affordable quality housing needs to be created. People on minimum wage or on welfare cannot afford the $700 or more that is the average rent for an apartment in Halifax. So thousands of people live in boarding houses where they pay $300 to $500 for an often delapidated room, and they have to share a bathroom and a kitchen with others. I have seen how awful that can be. We desperately need government incentives for developers to build homes people can afford and live in with pride. And we need this housing all over Metro, not just in localized "pockets for the poor."
Our health care must be improved for those with mental illness. Far too many people are falling through the big cracks in our mental health care system. Plus our welfare system does not give people enough to live on, minimum wage is much too low, we need to educate and train people for existing jobs, we need to teach basic life skills like how to manage money and how to eat nutritiously and how to resolve conflicts without physical or verbal violence. We need addiction rehabilitation that works. We have the money for all of these programs. We have so far chosen not to make them a priority.
There are groups in Metro who are actively working to improve the conditions for the poor. You can contact the office of Community Action on Homelessness at info@cahhalifax.org, or 420-6026. Or Halifax Coalition Against Poverty at www.hfxcap.ca, 444-5060. Or Canadian Housing and Renewal Association at www.chra-achru.ca. Or you can stop and talk to Morgan. Maybe you can offer him a job, or a place to stay until he gets some self confidence back, some trust in the world again.
I found this poem that was written by a former homeless man. This poem makes me very sad, but also gives me hope.
The Lonely Streets by Hank Brewer
You may think that I am an old man,
As I walk with shoulders bent.
But once I had a young man's dreams
Now I wonder where they went.
I once had a home and family
But my choices forced them away.
Now lonely days and tear filled nights
Is the way I have to pay.
The city is crowded, but we walk the streets alone
It seems that you're invisible if you don't have a home.
Now thanks to people out there, who have shared my despair
I have a beautiful place to live, and friends who really care.
I've been down and out, despair staked its claim
But like the phoenix from the ashes
I shall rise again.
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Terry Paul Choyce preaches at 10 AM most Sundays at Brunswick St. United Church. You can hear her on the " new" CKDU at 88.1 on Sundays from 2 to 3:30. (www.ckdu.ca) For more info contact her at terrypaulchoyce@yahoo.ca.
©Terry Paul Choyce. Used with permission from the author.
