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Depressing to see my city make it here. Our provincial government (surprise — conservative!) does not give a fuck about how many people no longer have a place to live. It is incredibly grim.
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The first step was shelter .... The next step is hunger .... once people start realizing they can't afford to eat let alone figure out where to live .... people will start to get desperate and do ugly things.
We're all animals .... the ones at the top with all the money and wealth have no care or sympathy for humanity, they would gather more money for themselves than try to save anyone for a penny.
And all of us at the bottom just accept all of this as normal.
And no I'm not calling for revolution.... just for everyone to understand that when you don't vote or vote for people that back business instead of people ... stuff like this is going to happen.
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You can go ahead and call for revolution, it's time.
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Now that is out of touch, or plain delusion.
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This is fucking disgusting
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I'm in Winnipeg... I live in one of the 'nicer' mature neighborhoods, with parks and schools every couple of blocks. This is happening everywhere.
Some dude who appears to be experiencing some housing issues pitched a tent in the park I walk my dog in daily. We play with the kids there quite often and it's a hub for families in the area with a Jewish education center and old folks home surrounding it. The homeless guy doesn't appear to be bothering anyone and keeps his area tidy.... I'm a bit torn as to whether or not to report him or ask the cops to rustle him out or whether to just leave him be. Having him relocated isn't solving anything, and might just put him back under a bridge where he likely isn't safe to stay. I know he'll be gone by winter though, if he starts lighting fires to keep warm he'll be gone in a hurry.
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Why would you ever consider reporting him? The last thing someone struggling to live needs is to be harassed by the community and abused by cops.
Consider treating him like a human being. Ask how he's doing. See if he needs anything. Keep an eye on local social media for people mentioning him so you can warn him before some nimby bootlicker calls the cops on him.
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Honestly, I know the so called bleeding hearts don't like hearing this, but it's something you do to maintain the standards of your neighbourhood.
I, too, live in a suburban neighbourhood, much like OP. A couple years ago, we had a couple guys living rough, very much sounds the same as what OP is describing. Lots of people were taking food, and leaving bottles out/etc. The problem with this, is word gets out on the streets. Come to this neighbourhood, there's lots of kind people who will support you.
Fast forward a couple years, our property crime is through the roof. We are experiencing violent crimes as well. Close to one of our schools is some bushes, that are now full of needles and the cops/support teams can't keep up. Someone got burned out of a tent a couple weeks ago. We have areas where people are starting to get scared to walk at night. Remember, this is a quiet suburban area, where taxes & HOA fees are high, and again unpopular opinion, but I don't want to be putting up with this shit. It's why I live in the suburbs.
If folks could not forcibly drag everyone else into their problems, and it's just a few random people in tents not harming anyone, then no harm no foul and they'd get taken care of.. But that's not how it is in our modern times, with our modern issues and no supports available for these people. People that will do anything to get their drugs. Again that fucking sucks, it really really does, but it's not something you want to tolerate in your neighbourhood. Broken lightbulb theory and all of that.
I know this hurts to hear. We fucking suck as a society. At some point though, we have to call this for what it is.
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Because in the past when I’ve lived in places that have had this happen, the situation grows rapidly and the park near my house became unusable for the neighborhood while property crime got so bad that wheel chairs were being stolen from kids at the park for scrap metal. If I start to see this trending in that direction, I will absolutely be contacting the City Councilor as well as the police to prevent it from escalating. I’m not willing to have my neighborhood get turned into an encampment, and if you think I'm a bastard for that, I’m fine with that. I have no issues with my kids playing next to someone camping out because they have nowhere to go, I have major issues with my kids playing next to discarded needles. We say hi to the guy when we've seen him, I say good morning to him when he pokes his head up on the morning walks. He's not lesser than anyone because he sleeps in a tent, but if one morning I walk by and it's a tent city, with needles scattered around, and a burned out fire then all bets are off and I'm choosing my family's safety & neighborhood over the people who are making the situation unsafe.
I work with multiple shelters in our city, one of them my family has supported for 3 generations now starting with my grandmother cooking meals there up to today where I consult with them on their plans to expands their services to keep helping people. I'm pretty open to finding ways to support people who have no where to go, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to let another neighborhood get destroyed in the process, which is exactly what happened to the last one and will unquestionably happen to this one as well.
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How are you torn on this, you stated yourself that he's not bothering anyone and he's attempting to keep his area tidy. I guarantee you that he does not want to be living there anymore than you do, but it's most likely the safest option he believes is available to him. Asking the cops to "rustle him out" is only going to put him in more danger and make his situation worse.
If you really feel the need to "report him", maybe consider reaching out to advocacy/support groups to see what services might be available to him. Providing support and treating him like a human are much more likely to actually solve the problem. Your solution would just hide it from your view while endangering him further.
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Because in the past when I've lived in places that have had this happen, the situation grows rapidly and the park near my house became unusable for the neighborhood. If I start to see this trending in that direction, I will absolutely be contacting the City Councilor as well as the police to prevent it from escalating. I'm not willing to have my neighborhood get turned into an encampment, and if you think i'm a bastard for that, I'm fine with that.
I work with a homeless shelter in town, they are aware of his location- I saw him up on their board the last time I was there. That means he's been offered assistance and has declined it. That is often because of drug usage issues, even though this shelter doesn't require you to be sober to use it.
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