When I began hiking in the Rockies many years ago, a friend told me about some standard guidelines. One was, hike at the pace of the slowest person in your group.
It goes without saying, really. Don’t leave anyone behind. Don’t race up the trail and then stop to make sure they’re okay, many switchbacks below. Stay together, be together, support one another. Enjoy the beauty together, face dangers together.
To me, this guideline makes sense in all kinds of endeavours, all kinds of situations.
Having people in our community, whether they’ve lived here 10 years or 10 weeks, sleeping on patches of grass where they can find them, dragging their meager belongings from spot to spot each night, having no relief from wildfire smoke, having no proper bathroom, no hot water, is not okay.
While the odd person might ‘choose’ to be living rough, for most people who are homeless, the situation is not a choice, not where they want to be.
If housing happens to be available, rents are out of reach for many people, even if they’re working more than one job. Throw in mental health issues and/or addictions, and making enough money to rent becomes impossible.
Government money is available to some, but is woefully inadequate. And to access some subsidies, you must have a home address.
While homelessness is nothing new, it has become more visible in Salmon Arm of late. It’s on the streets and on the fields and in the parks.
“It” of course, is our fellow humans beings. It’s easy to judge, make assumptions, to believe that the problem is their ‘fill-in-the-blank’ inadequacy.
But the reality is, it has actually been a collective decision on the part of government at all levels and, ultimately, citizens, to not solve this problem. Based on results, it has not been a priority.
In Salmon Arm, many of us have what’s called ‘disposable income.’ Some, lots of it. We choose to spend it on other things. Municipally, provincially and federally, many tax dollars are spent, but not for affordable homes for all.
This is a simplification, I know. Some affordable housing is available. And people here have big hearts and are well-known for their generosity.
But the problem is not a lack of resources. It is a lack of connection with these “homeless,” an ability to look away, to not feel, to judge away the need to act. How else could homelessness and food banks keep growing? And how could affordable treatments and supports for people with addictions and mental illnesses be so sparse?
So many problems could be alleviated and so many dollars saved if every person had adequate shelter and enough decent food to eat.
Like the hiking guidelines, it just makes sense not to leave anyone behind.