And all the fruits again would fill the garden...

[somejauntypolka]

The other evening, I spent my work dinner break taking a little field trip to Continental Coffee for one of the best latte's on the drive. You can't beat the price either, cuz you get a double 16 ouncer for just $2.85 - that's pocket change thanks to the good old loonie and twoonie. As I passed the liquor store I noticed a young man sitting on the

Comments

[paka]

See, I never make eye contact. Looking someone in the eyes says "I am a warm sympathetic person and a complete boob, hit me up for money

[somejauntypolka]

Homelessness is a HUGE problem in vancouver or so the media tells us. To be more accurate, it's HOUSING and it's lack that is the problem. Continued attempts to resolve homelessness are bound to faill...It's a matter of focus I think.

I dunno, I always make eye contact. I made a decision a while ago that if someone's going to address me on the street, I will look at them directly and tell give a response with kindness and compassion. I figure if I can't give money I can at least give a smile or a 'have a good night', or 'keep warm' or something like that. Since I started working in the helping field it stopped feeling okay to just dismiss or ignore people - we're all swimming in the same fish bowl, eh?

In regard to giving money, the only hard and fast rule I have is about guilt - I won't give someone money if I'm feeling guilty. I will give money if it feels like the right thing to do and I happen to have some.

I heard that Portland has some effective strategies about housing and homelessness. Heard anything?

[paka]

Have you ever read Barbara Ehrenreich's book Nickled and Dimed? She spends a year doing really crummy blue-collar-ish jobs and trying to avoid really pulling on her bank accounts to reflect the reality of being poor in the USA. At the end of the book she analyzes costs of everything and the thing she pinpoints as completely breaking people is that housing costs go up a lot faster than income. My experiences in the Bay Area really seem to support that.

Wow. That's impressive. I wish I could get past some of the "life is adversarial" background that leads me to not make eye contact...

I don't know much about Portland's stuff with homelessness. I do know that their downtown is free, bus wise - where "downtown" is gets weirdly patchy - and I can't imagine that doesn't help. The city was full of homeless people when I've been there, which implies either the weather is kind enough to survive easily (it isn't) or there's something else going on, but what, I don't know.