Category Archives: The Basics

In the summer of 2010, I saw a talk given by James Shelley that started to erode my basic assumptions of how to make the world a better place.  The challenge is that somewhere along the way I’ve picked up … Continue reading →

A man stands at the curb in front of your house. His beard is too long; his skin is too tanned, starting to wrinkle like a crumpled piece of paper; his hands look sticky from beer spilled from crushed cans; … Continue reading →

I was reminded in watching this video that when considering homelessness, there are few symbols as powerful as the house key. When speaking to people with lived experiences of homelessness, the transition that is most meaningful, or that which they … Continue reading →

The following is a powerful video created by the Calgary Homeless Foundation on the idea of housing first, which is a nice follow-up from my previous post.  I particularly like the comment around poverty and income support, with the idea … Continue reading →

One of the challenges we face in addressing homelessness in London, like in many municipalities, is the lack of information sharing across the many agencies involved.  From an administration perspective, this means difficulties in budgeting, in collaborating, and in creating … Continue reading →

Affordable housing is not cheap.  At up to $145,000 per unit, and with 3005 families on the wait list, it would cost over $400M to meet London’s affordable housing need.  That said, the system-wide costs of not housing people are … Continue reading →

Last week at the Grit Uplifted issue #2 launch, a number of the writers took time to read their work.  I was struck by the story of Serenity, who spoke to being born homeless, before she had any idea of … Continue reading →

A brief overview of homelessness, and what we need to do about it:

In refining our health and social services for people who are experiencing homelessness, we have been talking a lot about better information sharing.  Individuals who access services are forced to complete the same forms and answer the same questions from … Continue reading →

So if 1/3 of homeless people are in shelter, and only less than 1% sleep rough, who else is homeless?  The bulk of people we would consider to be homeless are the ‘hidden homeless’, but what does this mean?  The … Continue reading →