I’m a resident of the “Alexander, Union, and Church Streets” community in downtown Brampton.
On July 17 a group of my neighbours attended a special city council meeting claiming to represent our neighbourhood, but I was not represented.
At the meeting, this group vilified the Regeneration Outreach Program, Grace United Church, and the many people who rely on these places for food, showers, and social support services.
This created impetus for my local city councillor, Rowena Santos; Brampton Mayor, Patrick Brown; and the rest of Brampton’s city council to threaten legal action against Renegeration and the church that houses it.
They did this despite Regeneration asking for help from the city to move a year prior, and at a time when funding and support for charities, food banks, healthcare, and housing are at an all-time low, leaving places like Regeneration stretched thin.
I’m well aware of the impacts of the housing and addiction crises affecting not just my neighbourhood, but neighbourhoods across the province, and it’s distressing to be affected by the desperate actions people are doing here to stay alive.
However, unlike the group who attended the July 17 meeting, I don’t see the folks who congregate on the steps of Grace United Church and rely on the services provided by the Regeneration Outreach Program as a problem: I see these people as my neighbours.
Attacking and threatening the Regeneration Outreach Program and Grace United Church puts the onus on those organizations to “x” the issues, but the onus to address the issues we face along Alexander, Union, and Church Streets—and beyond—is on our government.
There are known solutions that are being ignored, such as adopting a housing first approach to address homelessness, creating more supervised consumption sites, and increasing funding to community mental health and addictions services, as well as creating government-managed infrastructure to support them.
It is deeply upsetting that these evidence-based approaches, or others like them, are not being advocated for or put into action by the government. I, as a member of the Residents of Alexander, Union, and Church Streets’ neighbourhood, see another way forward. We all need safety. We all need shelter. We all need community. And we all deserve these things.
Attacking and threatening won’t solve the problems. What’s actually needed is for us to humanize those in need, collaborate with organizations like the Regeneration Outreach Program, advocate to our government to use forward-thinking approaches, and work together as a community of neighbours.
If we do this, then it’s absolutely possible for all my neighbours to have what they need.