FOUR KEYS TO AIDING PEOPLE ON THE STREET

It's at the tail end of a recession that its human impact is most
acutely felt -- jobs are scarce, emergency savings and credit dry up,
charities are stretched to the limit and hardship grips many
Canadians. This reminds us that recessions are not just about gross
domestic product and stock prices -- they are about human beings, many
of whom are in dire straits.

Generally, we don't want to see the holes in the safety net because
this would mean that we would have to give up something to mend them.

However, social justice is not free.

We don't really want to hear stories that end with people on the
street because they would melt our hearts and force us to abandon the
stereotypes that define people on the street as lazy screwups who
don't want to work. Put yourself in the shoes of someone on the street
and you will have a very different perspective.

This does not mean that everyone on the street is an angel in disguise
who just needs a chance. Such idealism does not get us far because the
reality is more complicated.

So what can we do? As a new Canada West Foundation report shows, a
lot. The many people and organizations dedicated to serving those who
find themselves on the street have learned a great deal over the years
about what works and what doesn't.

Four approaches emerge as promising practices.

The first approach is harm reduction, which tries to reduce self-harm
activities without requiring the cessation of that activity. Common
examples of harm reduction include needle-exchange programs, medical
prescriptions for heroin and methadone treatment.

The second approach is housing first, which focuses on providing
stable housing as a prerequisite to assisting individuals who live on
the streets. The newly housed resident is then offered a range of
support services such as mental-health and income support.

The third is community justice. Rather than simply sending an offender
to jail, this approach demands that both legal counsel and judges
examine the circumstances underlying a specific crime.

The fourth approach is community ownership. This is more than the
practice of community consultation and including a broad range of
professionals, service providers, businesses and government
representatives in planning solutions to many social challenges.
Rather, it reflects the fact that community participation requires a
commitment to putting clients at the centre of planning, their full
participation in decision-making and their ability to make choices
regarding their own lives.

These approaches are not pie-in-the-sky idealism; they are difficult
to execute and their effects are not immediate. They also require
reclassifying people on the streets as citizens, rather than
continuing to see them as problems or pretending that they don't exist
at all.

Robert Roach is director of the West in Canada Project at Canada West
Foundation