Cory Morgan: Addiction Treatment First, Housing Second a More Sensible Approach to Solving Homelessness

Cleanup crews tear down homeless encampments in Edmonton on Dec. 29, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Jason Franson)

Commentary

The city of Edmonton recently removed some troublesome tent encampments and the reaction from activists was outraged, predictable, and misguided.

Every city in Canada is trying to cope with growing and increasingly dangerous homeless encampments. They’re in a difficult position as citizens and businesses demand the removal of the encampments, while activists accuse the cities of being heartless when they do.

In a tent encampment in Calgary last December, several guns were found along with hundreds of grams of fentanyl and methamphetamine. Edmonton police have found that gangs are controlling many of the camps. Fires, overdoses, and assaults have become endemic in homeless camps, and residents of the camps often spread out to commit robberies in surrounding areas. Even police officers aren’t safe, as an RCMP officer was stabbed to death in a homeless camp in Burnaby.

We can’t pretend any longer that homeless camps are sustainable, harmless, or safe. They must be dismantled for the safety of those within the encampments as well as citizens who live near them.

There is no panacea. It’s complicated and deeply rooted. If cities hope to address the issue there is one thing they must do first: face reality.

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Activists and many city politicians continue to try and blame the encampment problems on a lack of affordable housing. Affordable housing is a challenge that needs to be addressed nationwide. We can’t pretend that’s the reason most of the people who are residing in tent encampments are doing so, though. Most of the denizens of encampments suffer from addiction and mental health issues and until that reality is faced, efforts to solve the issue will continue to fail.

The new trend of “Housing First” being pushed by activists is just as naive and doomed to failure as the addiction enablement trend of giving free drugs to addicts has been. It denies the harsh realities of addiction and operates under the misconception that addicts can lead functional lives if only they were provided with housing and more drugs.

Most cities have available shelter space and programs to help people get on their feet if they find themselves inadvertently homeless. But the people in homeless encampments usually won’t go to those because they aren’t allowed to consume their drugs of choice within them.

An activist with Fourcast, which helps those struggling with addiction and homelessness, said: “Housing First believes that everyone has the right to safe affordable housing without needing to ‘earn’ housing. If there are ‘rules’ or expectations related to substance use, it becomes a barrier to housing for many.”

Fourcast was involved with the Housing First experiment in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario, which turned out to be a disaster. Housing was provided to addicts with no questions asked. The facility quickly became a drug den plagued with overdoses and property damage.

Nanaimo, B.C., had a similar experience with a complex created for Housing First as fires, overdoses, and crime quickly spiraled out of control.

The advocates for the Housing First approach have it backward. People aren’t addicted because they are homeless. They are homeless because they are addicted. It seems like common sense but that logic is somehow lost on many advocates. If the underlying addiction is not first treated, the addict won’t be fit for any kind of long-term housing.

We can’t let the homeless encampments continue to grow and we can’t put the addicts displaced from them into conventional shelters. A fair question asked when the camps are torn down is: Where will the occupants of the camps go?

If addicts are constantly tossed into the streets we will see more deaths among them from exposure. Desperate addicts may break into homes and businesses to escape the cold, which brings about new dangers to citizens and addicts alike.

Cities need to examine ways to create temporary, safe housing for displaced addicts. Whether it’s in facilities built for that purpose or in literal, secured warehouse spaces, there needs to be a heated option in winter when the camps are removed.

Yes, packing a bunch of addicts into a warehouse isn’t ideal. There surely would be disorder, overdoses, and some crime. That’s already happening in the encampments as it is, and spills out into neighbourhoods with citizens who don’t deserve to have to deal with that mess. In facilities designed for it, the disorder can be contained and harm mitigated.

Addicts aren’t in their right minds, and they aren’t harmless. They need help, and as a society we should provide it. That help must be tempered with a dose of realism, however.

We can’t keep pretending addicts just need a new home or a job. They need containment for the sake of public safety, and then they need treatment. Only then will long-term housing options become viable.

Addiction treatment first. Housing second.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.