In Toronto, people beg for shelter.
In Suburbia, houses sprout like dandelions.
In Halifax, a house is built out of phone books.

With homeless an expected sight on the streets of Toronto, many claim freely that suburbia is an oasis void of homelessness. Recent statistics prove otherwise.

So why the growing rate of homelessness across the GTA? And, why is it that Scarberia residents feel that contacting their local councillor to take care of "Street Weed" (the unsightly weed growing on the side of the roads)is a much more important use of councillor time as opposed to helping to combat homelessness?

I believe that part of the problem is the stigma associate with being homeless. That they are lazy and sincerely want to live on the streets. Of course for perhaps 1% of the homeless population that might truly be the case. However, for the majority it is the lack of affordable housing, and low wages that (even on a double income) barely support some of the GTA's lowest rents.

The problem is this to me:

There are programs to assist the homeless.
There are programs to assist the jobless/in between jobs.
There are few programs to assist the chronically low wage earning hardworking people.

I would love to be proven wrong!

Add in the influx of qualified professionals immigrating to Canada. They are unable to practice in their profession and subsequently are forced to take up jobs that far beneath them. There by reducing the number of available "grunt work" type jobs that would normally go to those who have little job options to keep them off the street.

Meanwhile, in Halifax, students at Dalhousie built an relatively efficient (albeit small) home out of phone books. The entire excercise cost $3,000 and yielded an interesting result. Should we ask the homeless to consider living in "Phone Booths"?

Well, I heard that much of the subsidized housing in the Dundas/River area will be torn down to make way for town houses and condos... "Phone Booths" might turn out to be the solution!