Mechele and Melissa tell us about working the front lines of the Homelessness Crisis

We know that for every one person that is going from street to home, there are about

5-10 people that are going from home to street.

We really need to look at them as the individual that they are, whether they're meeting their

substance use schools or not.

You're exactly right, Matt, when people are deprived of housing and they feel like there's

no other options and the one option is survival.

And survival is a really hard work.

We've got a great show for you today.

Michelle and Melissa are joining us to talk about how they and 76 of their frontline colleagues

feel about how some members of City Council are handling the homelessness crisis here in

London.

They're also going to tell us about what it's like to work in this field and the challenges

that they face every day.

Winter is here, time to discover Bicycle Cafe, cozy up with our daily soup and sandwich,

or unwind with an evening latte and Dutch comfort food.

London Bicycle Cafe at the Forks of the Tems.

See you soon.

Michelle is a community care worker who has 23 years experience working the front lines

of the homelessness crisis.

Melissa is a frontline worker who's been doing this work since 2018.

There are over 2,000 people who are experiencing homelessness here in London.

And that number grows each and every month.

People like Michelle and Melissa provide support to these individuals who are living rough.

At a recent council meeting, members of council were considering a number of policy changes

that a group of 78 frontline workers say would have made their work harder and the lives

of the folks that they serve harder still.

When council met to discuss the changes, these frontline workers filled the gallery.

This caught council's attention and the changes didn't happen.

On top of the 2,200 people experiencing homelessness here in London, there are also another 83,000

people living rough across Ontario.

As Londoners, we hear about and we witness the homelessness crisis on a regular basis.

Michelle and Melissa and their colleagues are immersed in it every single day.

They're here with us to tell us all about it.

Michelle and Melissa, welcome to Newsmakers.

Thank you for having us.

So first, Michelle, let's start with you.

You're part of a group of 78 frontline workers.

You recently wrote an open letter to all members of London City Council and you lobbied for

Londoners to do the same.

Can you tell me about this group?

Sure, I'd be happy to.

The group collectively, we have over 700 years of experience.

That's some experience.

Yes, and we have a variety of experiences.

Many of us are well-read and have contributed to research.

We have participated on countless committees, advisory panels and professional workshops.

We have, we're a group that deeply cares for our community.

We're deeply committed to the people that we work with and we serve.

We've forged meaningful and lasting relationships with people that have often been left for

dead by the rest of society.

We also have a deep understanding of homelessness.

Many of us have personally experienced homelessness often at a young age.

We are passionate about this topic and we are passionate about our work.

Yeah, it sounds like a group of some pretty special people.

Yeah, we're also like one or two paychecks away from accessing our own services as well.

So, you know, it's an important issue.

Well, we're going to learn all about that today.

Melissa, can you tell us about the letter that was sent to council?

So the letter, its purpose was to inform council that the decisions they're making have consequences,

real human consequences and our concern was that what they were proposing at the time,

cutting some funding to certain services and providing it to others while necessary was also

could be very, very detrimental.

Yeah, absolutely and thanks for outlining it like that.

I'm going to say that your group demonstrated democracy in action.

Not only did you write the letter, you also filled the gallery at that council meeting.

And I think you changed minds, people who were contemplating these changes were voted down

by the majority of council and the policy relating to warming centers was improved.

So congratulations and thank you for that.

I wonder what motivated you to do this, to move in this direction?

I felt really motivated by realizing how necessary it was for us to come together

and increase our visibility, amplify our voices and show really how important this issue was to

all of us. We all, all 78 of us saw the importance of what these decisions could mean and yeah,

it was, I just really felt like I needed to be a part of it personally to show my support.

Absolutely. It was an important win and that said, the homelessness crisis is still upon us.

2,200 people are experiencing homelessness here in London.

They're joined by 83,000 other individuals right across the province and that number goes up

each and every month. What's happening on the front lines?

Michelle?

Well, as you've mentioned, we are in a crisis.

We know that for every one person that is going from street to home,

there are about 5 to 10 people that are going from home to street.

So we are seeing numbers across the board increase which for folks that are doing

outreach and working at services, it just stretches the organizations, it stretches the programs

and the resources and it creates really long wait lists for people.

So we're seeing a lot of exhaustion, seeing preventable deaths happening by the numbers.

Yeah, it's not a good situation out there.

A really, really hard work. Addiction and homelessness can sometimes go hand in hand.

And I wonder if we could talk about that. Melissa?

So people who use substances often face barriers when trying to access services,

a lot of services expect abstinence and that just isn't realistic for every person

who uses substances and so services like primary and mental health care, housing support,

social services, a lot of people are denied access to those programs and services and it leaves

them with nothing, with no support.

Creates a huge challenge. I see that very, very clearly.

And I think that some people think that oftentimes substance use occurs and then it results in

homelessness. And in almost every case, that's not the direction that the line goes.

A person experiences homelessness, they're living rough, their life is really terrible and they turn

to substances. Michelle? Yeah, you're exactly right, Matt. When people are deprived of housing

and they feel like there's no other options and the one option is survival and survival is really

hard work. We've only got a couple of minutes left that I want to make sure that you have those

minutes. And so any final message, what would you like to see moving forward Melissa?

I think moving forward, we really need to provide permanent services to the people we're already

serving. And we need more housing first programs. We need to focus on harm reduction and meeting

these people where they're at. We really need to look at them as the individual that they are,

whether they're meeting their substance use schools or not. And that could include abstinence,

it may not. And just really, really being there to support them, get them housed and get them healthy.

Michelle? Yeah, I agree with a lot of what Melissa said. I think that something to remember going

forward is that we are all equal and we belong to each other. And our community is only as strong

as our most vulnerable members. So I think when we go into a voting year, I think the things to think

about when we are casting our votes is, are we considering the most vulnerable people in our

community? And how can we be stronger community together? Or are we going to cast votes that just

line the pockets of a few wealthy power brokers in our city? Fair enough. And you're absolutely right.

This is an election year. I think this will be one of the topics that is discussed over the course

of the next several months. I'm afraid we're out of time. Your message is very moving. The work

that you do and that your colleagues do is incredibly important. And I think that it would only

be appropriate to finish this segment by saying thank you. Thank you to you and to your colleagues

for doing what you can to help our most vulnerable community members. Thank you. Thank you, Matt. We do

it together. Winter is here. Time to discover Bicycle Cafe. Cozy up with our daily soup and sandwich

or unwind with an evening latte and Dutch comfort food. London Bicycle Cafe at the forks of the

temps. See you soon. Okay, that's the show. Thank you for tuning in. This show is for you. In fact,

we couldn't do it without you. And as always, we do want to hear from you. You can write us

at the Matt Brown podcast at gmail.com. Tell us what you think. Tell us what you'd like us to cover

in a future episode. And thanks to everyone who's already doing this. The back and forth has been

great. So that's the show. I'm Matt Brown and you've been listening to the Matt Brown podcast.

It's the show about all things London and maybe some other stuff too. As always, thanks for listening.

Bye for now and talk to you again soon.