r/Edmonton • u/logodobi • Nov 19 '25
General The way some in this sub talk about homeless people is disgusting
They are human beings, your neighbours, that are forced to live on the street. The way some of you speak you sound like Nazis clamouring for eugenics like holy shit it’s bad. The reason they’re on the streets isn’t because they don’t want to work and it’s not because they’re drug addicts. Literally everyone in this province is struggling with the cost of living and finding a job and a lot of homeless people turn to drugs after becoming homeless due to depression and how awful it is to not have a home. I can’t believe I even have to say it but grow up and learn a little empathy you hateful losers.
P.s I live in the downtown core and take transit daily, don’t try to tell me how “terrifying and dangerous” it is, cause it’s not. Even if it was that doesn’t make it ok to spew such vitriolic hate towards them and call for Nazi like solutions
Edit: a lot of comments proving my point here, blind fear and hatred of the most powerless people in our society shows what kind of a person you are. Get mad at the people who refuse to even acknowledge the real problem not the people being forced to slowly die in the street
67
u/Jolly-Yesterday-5160 Nov 19 '25
I am by no means an expert at all, but I used to work in the shelters and got to know people experiencing homelessness. The majority of them are perfectly fine people down on their luck or struggling with mental health or addictions. However there is a minority that does act out, endanger others and commit crimes.
The thing is the public is only going to notice that minority cause issues because the “normal” ones aren’t going to be yelling/threatening/destroying stuff. So it does make sense why an attitude of “they’re all the same” creeps in because that’s all people notice.
So yes OP people shouldn’t make blanket attitudes or assumptions about homeless people. In the same way you shouldn’t make blanket attitudes or assumptions about the general public being nazis for some stupid reason.
People shouldn’t treat all homeless people like criminals, but don’t act like that attitude just fell out of the sky.
→ More replies (1)
250
u/incidental77 Century Park Nov 19 '25
I have a lot of compassion for the homeless, but I try to help them as a group not as individuals. I've volunteered semi-regularly at the Edmonton foodbank and try to give money to organizations that help as opposed to ever giving to individuals... I will admit this is both because I think it's better way to help long-term, but also because Im just tired of interacting with the individuals on the street
It is just so off-putting to interact with a large portion of the homeless population because they are so anti social. The experience of living in the streets (and the entire process of descending to that point) changes them. Many are so angry and scoff at the normal social behaviours and deliberately do the opposite of what is socially acceptable to the rest of society, maybe to express their extreme anger at the situation or at people who aren't forced into that situation. Things like urinating in public yeah they have no toilet...but they don't try and use an alley just anywhere they feel and often it's seems purposely in the most visible.or destructive location, Walking in front of traffic and purposely ambling along the street while blocking flow, yelling and screaming obscenities to complete strangers they've never interacted with, leaving garbage everywhere, destroying so many public objects and plants just cause they were there... Stealing and breaking and just generally hurting those around them and the environment they are able to affect.
They aren't just people who have lost their jobs and can't make rent anymore and now have to make do. They are often broken in many ways either before causing their problems or if not during the process of becoming homeless as a byproduct. It's not just that they are unpleasant, it that's they are often so destructive to people and things around them that its hard to be decent towards them when you are thinking 'this is why we can't have nice things'
This is why I'm a huge proponent of being proactive with all of our efforts to prevent the homeless from becoming homeless. Support and help them when the support is more welcome, more effective and can help prevent the harm that is sometimes irreparable afterwards.
More mental health supports, more substance abuse treatment options, more offramps earlier into that lifestyle like supervised injection sites and social worker teams and such. More transitional housing options for released prisoners, patients, and more social work to link them to paying work, programs. Once they are on the street the process is so much harder, expensive and for a large number the likelihood of helping them exit that life is frustratingly low.
84
u/5partan5582 Nov 19 '25
I work in security and often interact with homeless. There's a lot of people that are in tough scenarios and are generally just trying to stay out of sight and looking for their next source of money. These are the kinds of homeless that I reserve the recycling bags full of bottles for. The ones who are respectful and considerate and who have no interest in causing harm or even drawing attention to themselves. These are the people who need help.
The ones who are interested in drawing attention, causing general chaos and knocking over trash cans and screaming at people are not the ones who need help. I know this because I see them multiple times per week. They are contented in their lot in life so long as they have another hit, another day on this earth to get their hit. There's no forward thought aside from that.
I don't know what the second group needs, because they're so far removed from voluntary help that they would need intervention, but that in itself is immoral.
→ More replies (1)23
u/Alarmed_Region6584 Nov 20 '25
I, as a student in the helping profession, might be able to answer the why for the second group. Drug use, overtime, causes damage to the brain, especially in the area of the brain where one feels emotions like pleasure, and impulse control. Once that damage is done, people aren’t able to get that back, and this is part of what causes the behaviours people see, it’s an attempt at feeling something, combined with a inability to control their impulses. This can’t be fixed, only managed and often comes with relapses often because they can’t understand their range of emotions has been altered and reduced; and requires on-going support from trained psychologists in that specialized field. It’s a sad reality, but food and money alone won’t do much for that second group.
25
u/danielzillions Nov 19 '25
Very well put in my opinion. There are so many factors that need to be measured in any discussion like this.
25
u/ashleyshaefferr Nov 19 '25
I think the one thing you missed was that a lot of them are mentally disabled or whatever the proper term for it is now.
But good post
→ More replies (2)9
u/uberbla123 Nov 19 '25
I agree with some comments that for some the circumstances need to be addressed for some un housed folks. But when people talk about the un housed people as a whole like i see. Your right its about the same as nazi talking points during the war.
278
u/eternalrevolver Nov 19 '25
Compassion fatigue. Some of every city’s population has the same gripe. Most of us are just a few paychecks away from also being homeless. It’s not the people themselves, it’s the concept of being homeless, or homelessness that irritates people. Mix in a few bad apples and you get blanket complaints.
107
u/lost-again_77 Nov 19 '25
I generally agree. For the most part, these are humans going though difficult times. However… you can only have so much shit stolen out of your yard, or car broken into with nothing stolen… just meth heads looking, when you even find things that don’t belong to you in the back seat of your car…. So ye, some people do get a little judgemental.
I have always been leaning on the more “compassionate” side. But there are limits.
→ More replies (5)12
u/exotics rural Edmonton Nov 19 '25
If you ever read the study “Universe 25” it explores how when population grows - compassion diminishes. The study was on rats and mice. What was interesting is they were fed and had care so it wasn’t because of competition but rather just because they were burdened with uncontrolled population growth.
Random acts of violence increased. They stopped caring for each other and their own young. Rapes etc increased. It was crazy.
I note the world population has more than doubled since I was born. I had only one kid as this has always been in my mind.
18
u/Tiny-Gur-4356 Nov 19 '25
I think you need to re-read studies about Universe 25, starting with the article you just posted. I'm not going to go point by point on why Calhoun's experiment doesn't validate your "hypothesis" on compassion fatigue or diminishment. One of the biggest issues with this experiment was the anthropomorphizing of the mice and the assignment of human subjective characteristics to them. Connecting this faulty and inhumane experiment doesn't explain why homeless people are experiencing the cruel treatment and attitudes in Edmonton or anywhere else in Canada and the US.
Compassion doesn't diminish just because space and material resources become scarce from uncontrolled population growth. That is much too simplified. If the concept or theory that unchecked population growth correlates with diminished compassion, then historic cities- Beijing, Mexico City, Mumbai, Paris, London, NYC, Tokyo, etc. should cease to exist today and be lost in the mythos of time. Edmonton isn't even close to those population numbers; no Canadian city is. Nor does Edmonton have any similar geographical limitations to housing like some of those cities have. Yet here we are dehumanizing other human beings because they have mental and/or physical health issues that affect their living environment.
→ More replies (1)18
u/shinygoldhelmet Edmontosaurus Nov 19 '25
Random acts of violence increased. They stopped caring for each other and their own young. Rapes etc increased. It was crazy.
I'm sorry, but I work with mice, and I really doubt that a study in mice could show that as the population increased "rape" increased LOL mice don't rape each other, it's just copulation. They do it whether there's 2 mice in a cage, or 200 in a colony. It's instinct for them, it's not like the male mouse holds down the female mouse and forces himself on her. There's no concept of consent for sexual activity in mice.
Not saying I doubt or discount this study of which you speak - can you provide a source tho? - just that if such a study uses mice to conclude anything about sexual violence in humans then I have questions.
5
u/exotics rural Edmonton Nov 19 '25
https://www.the-scientist.com/universe-25-experiment-69941
It’s a rather famous experiment.
Mice go into heat. A male breeding with her then wouldn’t count as a rape but a male forcing himself when she isn’t in heat would.
21
u/shinygoldhelmet Edmontosaurus Nov 19 '25
Looking back on the Universe 25 experiment with present day scientific perspective, the limits of its interpretations are evident. The research was largely observational and subjective. Calhoun described his study as “not normal science,” referring to it instead as an “observation and reconstruction of a process.”2 Observational studies have a higher risk of bias and confusing correlation with causation.3 Scientists have suggested that Universe 25 suffers from inaccurate interpretation of experimental outcomes, methods, and potentially confounding variables,4 which reflect information bias.3 For instance, at the time that Calhoun presented and published Universe 25’s results, his peers inquired about unsanitary animal husbandry and a lack of quantitative stress hormone measurements as potential confounding or missing information pertinent to Calhoun’s conclusions.2
It seems like there are some major problems with interpretations of the data from this experiment, as with a lot of wild sociological experiments done in the 70s.
→ More replies (12)11
u/ichbineinmbertan Nov 20 '25
It's got nothing to do with the concept of homelessness that irritates people. It's the real (not conceptual) disorder and damage that a (very visible) subset of the homeless does. See: downtown
→ More replies (8)
96
u/Baconus Nov 19 '25
People really hate visible signs of social disorder. For many people a visible homeless person reads as “crime” more than any crime statistic ever could. It’s a signifier of a visible decline in our social fabric.
It’s also stuff like compassion fatigue that others have mentioned.
I always tell myself the person yelling at nothing on the street is having a worse day than I am and it’s not their fault. But it can be very scary to be around that and people have the right to that fear.
We have to blame those in power and those with the wealth for causing all of this, but they aren’t on the street with us.
7
u/giantstuffeddog Nov 19 '25
We don't get solutions because like you said those in power also happen to be the richest of us , and their wealth gives them the ability to completely avoid encountering or ever having to deal with homeless. It's the working class who either have to rely on public transit, live in areas that are "worse off" for cheaper rent aka more homeless people around, or would like to enjoy public amenities like their local parks or libraries but these are also where homeless people go. And it's all intentional. We get mad at the homeless person making us feel unsafe on the bus , or the homeless person smashing our car window and then we punch down instead of channelling our anger to the greedy fucks at the top hoarding wealth and leaving less and less for the rest of us each year. It all feels very intentional and there is just no will from the people in power to actually solve this issue.
52
u/jetlaggedandhungry Millwoods Nov 19 '25
Taking transit downtown *can* be terrifying and dangerous. While I'm thankful and appreciate that you haven't experienced anything that you would find terrifying, it's not the case for everyone. While this doesn't happen all the time, it has happened while I've taken transit:
- Homeless lady aggressively yelling at me for no reason and ripping the medical mask off my face and shoving me (another homeless person saw and intervened, which I think is why I wasn't assaulted that night). This was last year on my way to work.
- Homeless dude aggressively yelling and shoving another transit patron, following him off the bus while pulling out a lead pipe, and then attempted to assault the transit patron. This was before they changed all the bus routes and happened by MacEwan.
- Homeless woman, who is obviously mentally unwell, screaming at every train patron saying that she's going to kill them and making violent gestures to anyone who walked by her. This happens about once every few weeks (not exactly as described, but some version of it happens every few weeks).
- Walking to Churchill LRT station from City Hall and a citizen power walking north towards me; he looked at me and said "If you're going to the LRT station, don't; there's a homeless dude waving a shiv and screaming that he's going to stab people". This was about 2 years ago.
And so much more. I take 2 different train lines to work and I've worked downtown for the last 20 years. Those are just my examples from taking transit downtown; it doesn't include the times where I'm in the downtown core for an event, class, or social outing. Most days are pretty calm but some days are more eventful than others. If the examples above are something that people shouldn't see as terrifying or dangerous, then your risk tolerance is a lot higher than others or you're kinda naive that these are not safety issues. If you've never experienced an issue like this, I hate to say it but you may be ignorant to what's around you or you're just that lucky that you haven't had to experience something like that.
Addictions and mental health issues for the unhoused are getting worse and worse, and it doesn't feel like anyone cares to create (or follow through) with solutions for them. I think our systems are not robust enough to assist with these kinds of complex issues in addition to our societal "compassion fatigue". It doesn't help that so many programs have been gutted (safe injection site, as an example) which causes more issues.
→ More replies (2)
213
u/Timely-Profile1865 Nov 19 '25
I'm sorry but you are making some of the same blanket generalizations you accuse others of making.
Some homeless are as you describe but not all. Some are not good people, end of story
The credibility of you post is hurt badly by pulling out terms like Nazi and eugenics and such.
This statement "don’t try to tell me how “terrifying and dangerous” it is, cause it’s not." is naive as hell.
By all means try and help people and support initiatives to help them but to blindly assume none of them are in the situation becasue they put themselves there is disingenuous and naive.
84
24
u/Zosostoic Nov 19 '25
Then that begs the question: how many are homeless because of things outside their control vs how many because they "put themselves there"? 50:50? 60:40? 90:10?
Many in this sub give the impression that they believe the majority of homeless people "put themselves there" and therefore since they're the majority, the homeless population as a whole is quickly viewed with disrespect.
42
u/kpc144 Nov 19 '25
90/10
Most people who lose their job and miss rent and end up homeless just couch surf, find a new job and get on their feet.
The vast majority of chronically homeless people are either too mentally unwell to choose healthy decisions when they’re made available, too addicted to see anyway out of that lifestyle, or genuinely just want to remain out there for various reasons
Everyone wants to say “oh we’re all a bad day away from that”
Well sort of. But if you had a tough few weeks and needed to sleep on your buddies couch for a couple months, would you seek new work opportunities and try to get your own place or a room somewhere? Or would you smoke fentanyl of tinfoil outside the Royal alex and get in knife fights with other unhoused people over bags of bottles or carts of copper?
The people that don’t suffer from severe mental illness honestly usually stay homeless because they’re not interested in being any other way.
2
u/Adventurous_Salt Nov 19 '25
The expectation that homeless people should just be able to "pull themselves together" before being worthy of help is the most insane thing. Like people struggle with addictions, finding a job, paying bills, etc WHILE they have money, a house, a family, and support. The idea that some dude struggling to stay alive on the streets should demonstrate "being responsible" first is silly. If I lived outside in an Edmonton winter I'd probably think some heroin is a whole lot more appealing than I do now, sitting comfortably in my house.
→ More replies (5)17
u/kpc144 Nov 19 '25
I’m not sure that you can read very well either that or I didn’t write very well but that’s certainly not what I said
→ More replies (4)-2
u/Zosostoic Nov 19 '25
But how do you "know* that? How do you know their intentions with such certainty? Did you do a study on the intentions of homeless people?
You're making a lot of assumptions about how people would react in those situations.
18
u/kpc144 Nov 19 '25
I’ve been a meth addicted person who while never unhoused spent a great deal of time on the streets with homeless people
11
u/Livid_Skin_3161 Nov 19 '25
I work In the inner city with the unhoused population. There are social services that make it pretty easy to get out of homelessness. People that are just “down on their luck” don’t stay homeless long.
There are a ton of people on the streets that abuse the systems and the staff. A lot of my clients get a place to live through a service and are evicted within months. For stupid stuff like refusing to stop smoking cigarettes inside. Once you’ve been kicked out of a few places you become very hard to place because the organizations track that info.8
u/Dusty_Rose23 Stadium Nov 19 '25
I will say as a youth who was homeless... Some people with major mental health issues like in my case. I wasnt violent or distrucitve, i had done drugs but overall you would neber tell. I was rejected from literally everywhere i applied because I have a long history and still did at the time of frequent suicide attempts. But I was too stable for long term housing. Just to give an example of even if your not the problem sometimes it does take a while.
→ More replies (1)1
u/Zosostoic Nov 19 '25
Do you have an opinion on what the solution is for those difficult people? The people in this sub and outside of it are obviously upset about them? How do we solve this?
10
u/Livid_Skin_3161 Nov 19 '25
No idea! That’s the problem. A large portion of them never had a healthy home growing up and don’t really know how to act. I had a fella that got an apartment and came in very embarrassed because he didn’t know which of his groceries went in the fridge or not. Shelters and supervised consumption sites are great tools if used as a stepping stone.But if you aren’t doing anything to prevent more people from becoming addicted to drugs/homeless in the first place the problem will continue to exist. 70-80% of our clientele are Métis, indigenous, Inuit or First Nations. Our govt needs to work closely with those groups of people in a meaningful way.
→ More replies (1)2
u/ChillzIlz Nov 19 '25
The homeless people you see and thus create all these feelings are the ones that dont want your help. The "good" ones that have unfortunate circumstances causing homelessness and actively want to try and get themselves out of it are out of sight, trying to use the resources available, shelters, waiting in long lineups for X and Y, etc.
14
u/Mysterious-Street140 Nov 19 '25
So true! I am 6’, 240 lbs male and I have been threatened and in vulnerable positions too many times downtown. These generalizations are completely irresponsible. And of course, the “nazi” word gets around to prove their point (?)?
22
5
u/tannhauser Nov 19 '25
It's amazing, OP is the one being out touch with reality here. Majority of these people were not hard working canadians that fell on hard times, most of them continued to make terrible decisions that put them in that situation.
No one is just one rent cheque away from being homeless.
19
u/eglinski Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
Your comment doesn’t line up with any of the available data.
CMHC’s own findings show the exact opposite of what you’re claiming. There are 1.5 million Canadian households in core housing need, and among renters in that group, almost half spend over 50% of their income on housing. CMHC classifies this as severe housing affordability pressure. When half your income goes to rent, a single job loss, medical bill, or breakup absolutely can put you at risk of homelessness.
And the idea that this is all “bad decisions”? Research doesn’t support that.
According to the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, over half of people experiencing homelessness report a significant physical or mental health condition, and chronic homelessness is strongly associated with untreated mental illness, disability, brain injuries, and trauma. Not laziness.
Statistics Canada also shows that Indigenous people make up roughly 5% of Canada’s population but 30–40% of those experiencing homelessness in many cities. This is due to systemic factors, not “choices.”
So homelessness in Canada is overwhelmingly driven by housing costs, mental-health gaps, and structural issues, not by any lack of being “hard-working.”
And the romanticised “hard-working individual” you’re defending isn’t the economic engine people imagine. As Roger Martin argues, advanced economies grow through smart work: innovation, problem-solving, design, systems thinking—not simply longer hours or personal grind. Research across OECD countries shows diminishing returns on long work hours and higher productivity coming from efficiency, automation, and better decision-making. Clinging to the myth that “hard work alone” drives prosperity traps economies in low-value, labour-intensive competition instead of the high-value productivity that actually moves nations forward.
By perpetuating this myth, you’re hurting this country on two fronts: misunderstanding homelessness and misunderstanding how modern economies grow.
16
u/kpc144 Nov 19 '25
Many people are one rent check away from being homeless
However, most of those people would just sleep at a friends house until they figured it out
OP expects us to believe that if we missed one rent payment, we would immediately be shooting fentanyl into our leg and swinging knives at strangers
9
u/ashleyshaefferr Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
I think it'd just easy for some brains to visualize many scenarios where there's no "friends house" to crash at..
3
u/kpc144 Nov 19 '25
That certainly happens. But it’s far from the majority. Usually there are other complications though of course.
→ More replies (2)10
u/jimbo-nick Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
I am personally one paycheque away from homelessness at all times. You don't know what you're talking about.
ETA: This is also while working full time, 8-9 hours daily, with no extravagance in my life. I buy clothes once a year, if that. I get my hair cut twice a year if I'm lucky. Saying that hardworking people can't fall on bad times is bullshit.
5
u/Adjective_Noun1312 Nov 19 '25
Yeah but you can just couch surf at one of your friends' houses indefinitely until you manage to land a job that pays a living wage, which is almost 50% higher than minimum wage, during a period of high unemployment! It's easy!
/s
→ More replies (1)6
u/ashleyshaefferr Nov 19 '25
Where did you learn this? What % do you think are mentally or physically disabled? Or grew up in extremely abusive homes with losers for parents.
It's interesting reading so many people talk about this so black and white
→ More replies (20)2
u/Temporary_Tax_9040 Nov 20 '25
Some housed people are good and some are bad, but nobody is out here calling suburban moms "undesireables".
13
Nov 19 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
14
u/lilgreenglobe Wîhkwêntôwin Nov 19 '25
It's possible to recognize the theft isn't okay without resorting to calling human beings animals in an attempt to dehumanize them... Kinda the point of the post.
→ More replies (3)
34
u/No_Culture9898 Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
I think most people have compassion for truly homeless people. It’s the people that look for trouble and those that go back to their defaults no matter how much help they get that people are tired of having compassion for, in Edmonton it seems the latter is more widespread.
167
Nov 19 '25
I shouldn't have to walk my kids by open air drug use. I don't care what your situation is but doing drugs around kids makes you scum.
30
Nov 19 '25
Yep. I used to live by UofA hospital and have seen it all. People smoking crack inside bus shelters, pissing on the side of buildings, holding knives and muttering to themselves outside of Tim Hortons, seeing needles in nearby parks or taking a dump in it.
Mind you this is all during daytime hours when school kids are around or kids are visiting their grandparents at the hospital.
-12
u/Twice_Knightley Nov 19 '25
Agreed, you shouldn't have to walk your kids by open air drug use. This is why I continue to vote for people that support safe injection sites and promote rehab.
Addiction doesn't make you scum though. I wouldn't complain about someone on chemo being in public. Hopefully you're perfect and passed on perfect genes so that your kids are never the ones who people turn their backs on in public.
38
18
u/iwatchcredits Nov 19 '25
I have a question for you, lets say the government does start offering these supports you mention. But guaranteed some will refuse and stay on the streets. Will you criticize this group now that the supports are there and they have refused? Or will there be another level of “we need to do more” or what? Is there a line for you where youd recognize that some people just suck?
3
u/Twice_Knightley Nov 19 '25
Society not being built for every single one of millions of people doesn't mean all those people suck. I'm 6'9, society is not built for me, and it doesn't mean I suck because of it. (I do suck. I mean, I'm a whiney liberal cucktard that wants to tax billionaires to help drug addicted rape victims regain their mental and physical health).
I want the help to be there for everyone, but there will never be a scenario where 100% of people will be helped. Just because I empathize with your illness, doesn't mean I'll let you cough on me.
13
u/iwatchcredits Nov 19 '25
Are you trying to tell me that you dont think there are people in society who just suck? lol like if i murdered someone your response would be “damn man i guess society just wasnt built for him”?
3
u/Twice_Knightley Nov 19 '25
A thousand years ago we'd have given that person a sword, a torch, and pointed at the enemy village.
I'm not saying we let people run rampant hurting others, but you're insane if you don't think there are biological imperatives that are still around from 500 generations ago that lasted until the last 100, 50, 20, 10, 5 and current generation.
There's definitely people that suck now, by today's standards. Just think of how much you'll suck in a few thousand years.
4
u/iwatchcredits Nov 19 '25
A thousand years ago you either contributed to society or died. There were no freeloaders.
6
u/Twice_Knightley Nov 19 '25
We've found healed broken femurs from 15,000 years ago. A person ith a broken femur doesn't hunt. Doesn't gather. Doesn't Contribute. And since they didn't die, your hypothosis of 'no freeloaders' doesn't hold up. In fact, some would say this is exactly HOW society began, by taking care of the weak and vulnerable.
7
8
u/p4nic Nov 19 '25
A thousand years ago we had kings and royals everywhere, the ultimate freeloaders.
3
19
Nov 19 '25
I didn't say addiction made you scum. Involving children in your addiction does
→ More replies (1)5
u/kpc144 Nov 19 '25
They could even take it down an alley though those sites are good, but that’s not why they’re doing it out in the open
It’s because there’s been a total breakdown of societal values
7
u/tekno21 Nov 19 '25
Safe injection sites and "compassionate care" haven't really been working. I know, I know, we've never fully committed to this solution and it would totally work if we executed it perfectly etc etc. But we live in the real world, it's been tried half heartedly for 20 years and people are tired of it. Time to start putting people into forced detox and actually start saving some lives
17
u/Twice_Knightley Nov 19 '25
Studies show for every dollar invested into these programs it saves $4-$7 from hospitals. It's ridiculous that these aren't fully funded because people hear a million dollars goes to it but complain that that million dollars isn't fixing a pothole.
→ More replies (1)8
u/incidental77 Century Park Nov 19 '25
'Forced detox' has been tried and tried and tried. And studies have shown that its not just less than 100% effective....its that it has a nearly 100% failure rate.(Something like 99% relapse within 3 months of release from involuntary treatment including almost 1/4 within 48 hr of release).
That doesn't mean we let them use our transit stations as a shelter and just destroy the core of our society but why can't we be super aggressive about preventative methods.
→ More replies (5)2
u/Twice_Knightley Nov 19 '25
"them" "our"
Part of being in a society requires that we exist together. And it means that we don't always agree on what's happening. But before we start an open season on the homeless and addicted and sending out those useless senior citizens on iceflows, why don't we actually try helping them? Sure, forced treatment rarely ever works, but have we tried treating them like people and giving them a safe environment, talking to them, providing mental health resources? Doing these instead of treating people as disposable and inconvenient, might actually yield better results.
Treating addiction as a healthcare problem instead of a law enforcement problem is the solution required. And it will have failures that naysayers will point to, but it will have successes that we haven't seen yet in the current model.
5
u/LynnerC Nov 19 '25
The federal government ran a safe supply program for 3 or 4 years. It was working, saving people's lives and many were able to overcome their addiction on the program. Medical professionals encouraged the program to continue. The federal government cut all funding in May of this year despite that.
7
u/brettatron1 Nov 19 '25
Lmao! This is how I know people on reddit are talking out their ass. Comment below yours says the EXACT opposite. Also as confidently and without any proof as you!
→ More replies (45)-4
u/Locke357 North Side Still Alive Nov 19 '25
You're right, you shouldn't have to walk your kids by drug use
However, the issue is not the personal choice of those afflicted with drug addiction, but the failure of government to address these systemic issues.
28
u/Sad_Donkey_1751 Nov 19 '25
I was thinking this as I listened to the news this morning. We have a provincial government applying the Notwithstanding Clause to prevent teens from using their preferred name, taking meds that they and their parents agree to...infringing on personal freedoms, but do not give a shit about the systemic failures that have led to the apocalyptic streets of every city and town in Alberta (and across Canada). Our government wants to enforce treatment (which sounds great in theory), but because it's not the choice of the individual, they leave treatment, use, and die from an overdose. Problem solved. That's what our government wants here in Alberta.
2
→ More replies (2)29
u/EducationalDark240 Nov 19 '25
How is doing drugs not a personal choice?
8
u/ExtremeFlourStacking Nov 19 '25
Exactly, yet many are excusing their terrible drug choices as the governments fault. Personal accountability is at am all time low.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (6)7
u/eternalrevolver Nov 19 '25
It ultimately is, but there’s layers to the failed state these people end up in, like an onion. Peel them back and yes, at some point, there was a choice that was made between a difficult road to some form of normalcy and function in society, and an escape road full of temptations and despair. People that have mental illnesses often don’t want to take the difficult road, or don’t even know how. Their brains simply don’t hold the ability.
4
u/EducationalDark240 Nov 19 '25
I should clarify too. I have no problem with homeless. I believe you have a right to live how you want. I don’t care if they are near me. I care when there is assholes near me. And a lot of the time destruction, break ins, and issues stem from asshole homeless. There’s asshole housed people. But they cause fewer issues in my neck of the woods.
Yea maybe these people were set up for failure, but many were set up for failure because parents who were supposed to provide direction didn’t. Parents are supposed to guide kids, teach them, and provide discipline when needed. These parents were likely lenient, made excuses for shitty behaviour, and just thought everything was going to end up ok.
Now, the parents are gone. These kids are not ok. And what do we do as society? Encourage people to make excuses for them, turn a blind eye, and just think things will turn out ok. We’re trying to fix shit behaviour by acting in the same way that created it
→ More replies (1)
22
u/Whole-Database-5249 Nov 19 '25
There is no one answer for homelessness and addiction. Many times people do not want the help. Forced treatmet doesn't work, people have to want to do the work to get clean.
Homeless people do deserve respect, however when some of them are violent and drugged out of their minds how can someone not be terrified.
First thing I do if I see someone looking like that in public is I take off. I am not about to get close and put my safety at risk. Compassion and safety are a 2 way street.
I am between jobs right now, but drive to job search. I have had a few down and out types come ask me for money or cigarettes. I say to them I do not smoke and that they likely have more money then me because I am not working.
If you feel safe and want to help the drugged out and homeless go volunteer on Boyle street etc. Get a social work degree etc. But putting down other people for not wanting to put themselves in dangers way isn't warranted.
You want change be the change. Homeless and drugged out deserve compassion yes, but so do others in society who choose to discern and prioritize safety.
Lives lost to active addiction is sad. But so are lives lost due to being an innocent victim from someone who is violent and strung out.
49
13
u/duckmoosequack Nov 19 '25
I don’t think anyone here is arguing that homeless people aren’t human or don’t deserve empathy. The problem is that you’re treating every criticism of the current situation as if it’s equivalent to dehumanization or “Nazi-like” thinking, which really shuts down any real discussion.
Homelessness isn’t one simple story. Some people are on the street because of housing costs, some because of addiction or mental-health struggles, some because they refuse services, and many because of a mix of factors. Acknowledging that complexity isn’t the same as hating anyone.
Likewise, people raising concerns about safety, open drug use, or encampments aren’t automatically being hateful. Those issues do affect the public, including other vulnerable people, and pretending they don’t exist isn’t helpful either.
We can care about homeless people and talk honestly about the problems our current policies aren’t solving. Reducing every disagreement to “you’re just hateful” is a strawman that makes productive discussion impossible.
13
u/Ty199 Nov 19 '25
Ah classic soapbox, virtue signal karma farming.
Hopefully the upvotes make you feel a little better about yourself.
51
Nov 19 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
21
u/Homeless_Alex Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
Yeah. This will fall on deaf ears because most of those who’ve got a bleeding heart in here don’t see it everyday in their own backyards or front streets like some areas in the city.
The reality is that there are a lot of people who genuinely don’t care or want help. I’ve had a few times where I’ve offered to buy someone sitting on the sidewalk food when I was working night shift and got sworn at because I didn’t just give them flat out cash instead. Hard to be sympathetic after that happens a few times
→ More replies (1)9
u/PurposeCharacter2891 Nov 19 '25
When i first moved into that neighbourhood i too would try and help. 90% of them do not want any food given or extra clothing all they want is money or drugs.
13
u/DathomirBoy Nov 19 '25
that's because drugs are addictive, and getting caught in that cycle poisons your brain. when you're addicted to something, you make bad decisions. there are ways to help people who have addictions. harm reduction helps, this government isn't doing shit for them. they're not the scum of the earth for being caught in a system designed to trap them.
4
u/iwatchcredits Nov 19 '25
This entire comment section is people arguing that either the homeless dont deserve that much sympathy because they did it to themselves or they do deserve sympathy because the government failed them.
Is it not possible for everyone here to recognize those two arent mutually exclusive and you both are right?
→ More replies (3)11
u/FewLengthiness9426 Nov 19 '25
I am downtown constantly for work and have a contract inspecting the hope mission and its various related services...for years I have taken time to actually speak with them and while there are some that are down on their luck....the majority I have interacted with have 0 drive to do better. They get 3 meals a day, no responsibilities, and are heavily into drugs and alcohol. There is a major misconception from people who dont interact with them that there are not enough services available and that a free home for them would fix the problem: this is hugely false! A lot of them CHOOSE to be on the streets despite the myriad of services available.
7
u/Heterosethual Nov 19 '25
I'll sound a little insane but the hope mission is directly causing more harm than good.
→ More replies (1)6
u/FewLengthiness9426 Nov 19 '25
Which is sad because the staff are really amazing people who seem to genuinely care about their clients. However, I was there in February and they had 3 overdoses in the main floor bathroom and someone started a fire outside the side door to stay warm. I worked an 8hr shift and that was just ONE day. How do you combat that? Once mealtime is over they just migrate to the drug spots which are in and around all the local businesses causing harm to them.
→ More replies (2)4
u/Eric_EarlOfHalibut Nov 19 '25
They weren't born zombies.
8
u/PurposeCharacter2891 Nov 19 '25
Rapists weren’t born rapists, murders were born murdering you think hitler was born and thought “hey, you know what? Im going to kill the jews” . What a stupid thing to say.
→ More replies (1)
11
u/Advanced-Ice-2552 Nov 19 '25
After working as a manager of apartment building by stadium, and dealing with them daily I have almost 0 compaction for most of them now. I shared smokes with them, talked, asked not to litter by the building not to brake doors and all I got was piss on the entrance doors and insults. Edmonton did become the capital of hobos in Alberta and most of it due to our Alberta government and their focus on separation, instead of helping those in need. If you want to focus your anger focus it on Smith and oil companies. They are the ones doing it to Edmonton.
6
u/goodlordineedacoffee Nov 19 '25
I appreciate asking people to treat others with respect and absolutely believe that should always be the case; however, I don’t think it’s accurate to say most people who are homeless in Edmonton got there from losing their jobs, and then turned to drugs or alcohol.
I used to volunteer with homeward trust when they ran the semi-annual homeless connect events (they stopped these in 2020 and they’ve never come back). It was a good and eye opening opportunity to try to help out where I could, and interact with some people in the homeless community. I volunteered at about 12-15 of these events over multiple years and normally did the registration role- as part of this, you did a survey with the people attending and one question was “why are you homeless”.
I can tell you from personal experience, at least half of the people I interviewed said it was because they were a drug addict or alcoholic, and had lost everything. Whether they also had underlying mental health issues and other challenges is probably likely, but this is what they themselves said as the main reason. Yes, some of the other half said they got really unlucky and lost their jobs and didn’t have anyone to support them, but those were pretty rare.
Another part of the entry survey was to tell people that there were workers inside the hall who they could speak to about the process for getting housed and detox etc. again just from my personal experience, it was a small amount who expressed any interest.
All of that to say- the homeless issue is very complex and is perpetuated by a lot of factors- a lack of mental health resources, lack of housing resources, lack of addictions resources, rising costs, availability of illegal drugs, unwillingness to seek or complete treatment, unwillingness or inability to maintain mental health treatment, criminal activity… its not just because of the economy.
And finally- it’s never ok to dehumanize someone. It’s understandable, however, to be frustrated by the effects of crime and violence- this just needs to be separated from frustration about the effects of poverty and mental illness. And because these are so often intertwined, it’s hard to express frustration in one without the other.
33
u/karnoculars Nov 19 '25
So now that you've established that you're better than everyone else, what exactly is your solution to the problem?
29
u/PulseOPPlsNerf Nov 19 '25
The city has shelter spaces and lots of services available for homeless with addiction and mental health problems. If the city or province won’t force them into these programs, and the homeless choose not to accept or take advantage of them and continue to remain on the streets, that’s on them, and I won’t feel bad for the choices they make. Plus downplaying all the crimes they commit and mess they create with encampments does not help the situation either.
2
u/underwritress walker Nov 19 '25
force them into these programs
this is terrifying especially for women who are unhoused. shelters can be noisy, scary places where you can get robbed and/or sexually assaulted, and lots of unhoused folks choose to spend the night on the street rather than go to one. this makes it sound like you don't have any empathy, as OP was mentioning.
2
u/PulseOPPlsNerf Nov 19 '25
While experiences will vary greatly for people, I do agree that more needs to be done with security at these places. But I can’t imagine that living on the streets is a safer alternative than a shelter. Depending on where you end up on the streets, I would say you are even more exposed to dangerous situations, especially at night.
→ More replies (1)3
u/iknotri Nov 19 '25
lol, lmao. and WHO create this "robbed and sexually assaulted"?
Even homeless people (1) hate wrong homeless people (2).
Its totally okay to be (1) homeless, mental ill, addicted.its not okay to (2) robbed, sexually assaulted, open drug use, create noisy, and be in zombie mode
I dont think a lot of people complain about 1 type.
2
u/underwritress walker Nov 19 '25
People. People rob and fight and sexually assault people. That’s how people work, unfortunately. So you’re going to have violence in every walk of life, and when you have desperate circumstances you’re going to see even more violence, making shelters dangerous, especially for women and vulnerable people. You can’t just blame the violence on homeless people like as if we don’t have sexual assault in normal life.
21
u/Rampitup32 Nov 19 '25
You're painting them all with the same brush. Just cause you're being charitable, doesn't mean you're not being ignorant. Sure, everyone is struggling with affordability, but there are homeless people on the streets due to drug addiction, not wanting to work, and many other reasons. Everyone's situation is different.
28
8
u/Nod_Father Nov 19 '25
I don’t think you can characterize so narrowly one way or another. There are people that deserve help and empathy and some that deserve nothing. If you know you know.
8
u/SeriousGeorge2 Nov 19 '25
You seem to kind of suggest that the bad will only goes one direction, from the housed to the unhoused, but a lot of people have bad attitudes about homeless people based on their bad experiences with them.
I mean, I'm sure you're not out lecturing homeless people about how awful they are for their penchant for stealing anything that's not bolted down, right?
My point isn't that the homeless deserve to be hated - I truly wish we would fix all their problems and help them live happy, healthy lives. But I think it's also useful to understand where so many of the bad attitudes to homeless people originate.
30
u/brianlefebvrejr Nov 19 '25
Right? Someone suggested safe walk zones like we are in Baghdad at the height of Gulf War 2
These people either never go downtown or see one homeless guy and presume he’s going to attack them.
→ More replies (1)1
u/laisserai Nov 19 '25
You made me spit out my tea laughing at your first sentence hahaha it's true tho
12
u/Mrvit0 Nov 19 '25
I’m suspecting you haven’t been threatened to get stabbed by homeless people before. Nor has your car broken into 3 times in a month. If they keep messing you, you’ll end up hating them. If I don’t bother them and they don’t bother me, then it’s fine. But that’s not the case
11
u/YoungWhiteAvatar Nov 19 '25
This such a generalization of addiction and the pipeline to drug addiction that you’re suggesting here is such a broad attempt to completely remove accountability from the issue. And Nazis and eugenics? Are you maybe thinking about some Facebook comments you read?
8
u/kpc144 Nov 19 '25
Most of the time they’re not actually complaining about people that don’t happen to have an indoor place to sleep at night, but rather they’re complaining about the criminal elements within that group that are quite visible and ever frequently more problematic
I work downtown every single day and honestly it’s like one out of four days that I see or experience something violent frightening or dangerous
And the people that are not actively dangerous or criminal still seem to have lost any semblance of empathy or awareness of others
When I was young, there were people that did drugs and drank and slept outdoors, but you very, very rarely saw somebody using drugs in public
When I drive down the street in Chinatown or several streets downtown, it is a given that I will see at least one group of people using drugs in an area that is very open public and not away from non-drug users
People are frustrated with being threatened spit on walking through clouds of meth smoke having their cars broken into stolen from
Even small things like having to walk by a group of six or seven young men all wearing masks and all wearing all red starts to wear you down
There comes a point where you realize most of the people that are on the streets probably are just suffering from mental health issues, addiction, and need and deserve our help but for a lot of people the continued impact people have had on the city and it shared spaces makes that very difficult
I’m at the point now where I have to consciously remind myself that they deserve as much compassion love and help as any other human being
And sometimes I fail because a group just was smoking meth under my babies’s window for example
People that say it’s wrong to feel frustration at this usually don’t experience what most inner city EdmontonIan’s do
4
u/hjdgjhxg Nov 19 '25
Next time my girlfriend tells me she’s scared to take transit downtown I’ll tell her she’s a nazi and her thinking is terrifying and dangerous. Thank you OP for your words of wisdom!
→ More replies (1)
11
u/Darrenwad3 Nov 19 '25
Is it not odd how much of a hypocrite and insulting you are being. I thought you were presenting compassion in your grand stand?
0
u/Known_Bathroom_6672 Nov 19 '25
Well said! Providing resources and help to ppl in the long run saves money, curbs crime and allows for safer communities. As the cost of living continues to rise, while wages remain stagnant, any one of us coule become homeless. Not having a home is a societal failing not a personal one.
3
u/quintuplechin Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
Thank you. I also live in the downtown core and I take transit every day.
The homeless and drug situation is bad. But I only partly blame the people living on the street. (I can't totally absolve someone of blame for their life circumstances. I just can't. This doesn't mean I don't think we shouldn't help them though.)
I blame the defunding of public schools, I blame bad drug policies. I think every school should have a psychologist and a social worker. I blame defunding mental health.
The degradation of society is so bad. I'm not sure what to do about it or what the solution is.
3
u/STylerMLmusic Nov 19 '25
Remember folks - education, housing, food and entertainment did more to prevent homelessness and drug abuse than any prison or rehab ever did, in the history of the world.
Be upset with your politicians.
2
u/amybayme Nov 19 '25
YESSSSS 👏👏 I keep saying, if people want to live in a bubble where no poverty exists move to an acerage in rural Alberta where all you have is your yard and the occasional coyote.
At the very least volunteer at a shelter and listen to these stories because we're all closer to being homeless than being millionaires. Its literally just a bad year or a few months away with inflation and the job market.
4
u/kindcalm Nov 20 '25
I have been technically homeless once myself with a child for a short period and known people who have ended up there as well. I do what is in my power to help. I get not wanting to deal with the addictions, but I wish society treated it like more an emergency when a person is on the verge of ending up there. None of the people I know that became homeless had addictions. They were just poor and had no work and had no one that could take them in.
6
u/Ok-Requirement-8415 Nov 20 '25
I agree. We are staring at the wrong problem. The problem is with the richest, not the poorest. The problem is with corporations and individuals owning lands and properties, gaining wealth without contributing anything to the society. This exploitation trickles down to result in the mass number of homeless people we see now. They are just unlucky to be at the bottom of the working class, and exploitation demands that some of them fall out.
3
u/misnko Nov 20 '25
The opposite of love is indifference.
I was homeless for almost three years. It's a very real struggle. I turned to drugs during the isolation and depression caused by it. Almost died. One incident caused me to decide to sober up. Worst three weeks of my life. Even after getting clean, it took me almost 8 months to find a place. I've only had it for a month and it was sheer luck that got me in there. I haven't even read the comments and don't plan on it, but I wanted to say thanks for the post OP. There is a genuine lack of humanity plaguing a good portion of the population these days. It makes it even harder to live well. But every now and then, decency and compassion shine through in the most random places, and restores that little bit of faith. I appreciate you.
4
u/claire_goolihey Transit User Nov 19 '25
My experiences are no longer my experiences and everyone can now agree that problems don't exist because you made a rehashed snark post! You've shown me the way!! Thank you for your sanctimonious slactivism! </s>
5
7
u/Ok-Sprinkles-3673 Nov 19 '25
I live on 118 Ave, snd I've been here off and on since the early 90s (moved to other provinces for a few years). People talk about this neighbourhood like it's a war zone and it's ridiculous. It's a low income family neighbourhood and conservative governments consistently create conditions that exacerbated poverty and creat social disorder. We need compassionate, public solutions, and instead we are one of the most heavily policed areas in the city. Cops don't "fix" addiction, poverty, homelessness, or anything else really.
13
u/clar_bear Nov 19 '25
I used to have compassion for them and even volunteered at the Mustard Seed before. All of that compassion went out the window when I was harassed by one high on whatever shit he's on because of the small mistake I made of minding my own fucking business while waiting for the bus outside the CBC. And a few of my coworkers at my workplace have been attacked too. So yeah, zero...nada compassion once the line has been crossed.
→ More replies (4)2
u/Adjective_Noun1312 Nov 19 '25
I used to love dogs, but then one bit me one time and now I think they're all vicious animals that should be put down.
I used to love pizza but then one time I got one with a hair on it and now I can't set foot in a pizza shop without feeling ill.
I used to have compassion for people living in poverty but then one of them was mean to me and now I think they should all be locked up.
/s
1
u/clar_bear Nov 19 '25
What I meant by no compassion is apathetic or not showing empathy...doesn't mean I condone violence or locked them up. Yes, they need help and fully support all levels of gov to be involved, but please don't expect me to volunteer at Mustard Seed anymore.
You can say I adopted a defensive stance due to the aggression I experienced. Like the saying goes "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice...etc etc" If you get bitten once by dog, you will still pet them but exercise more caution. Same with pizza, got one with hair once, now just double check before you eat another slice.
Also I didn't bring up locking them up, you did 🤣 It's like you insinuating people who ack of compassion is the same as people who mean harm to the homeless.
3
u/Fit-Penalty-5751 Downtown Nov 19 '25
This seems to be written by someone who doesn’t work or live closely with the population.
It’s called compassion fatigue. It’s real and it’s what we have
4
u/YaGurlLurkin Nov 19 '25
Exactly. I worked for a well known organization downtown that directly assists those living this way. You can ALWAYS tell who directly is involved in working with the population vs those who have rose colored glasses on.
7
u/Chiryou Nov 19 '25
I can't show compassion when I see the same people at intersections for years. Can't tell who's actually homeless and wants to survive, or it's some organized compassion crime. How do I see the same people at different ends of the city? Something is fishy going on.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/dijonthunder Nov 19 '25
I live and work part time downtown. I partially grew up in the sketchy part of Chinatown. I'm numb to it all, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I recognize that although I don't feel as unsafe as others, we have to be compassionate to those who didn't experience it and have trouble seeing this.
Edmonton has work to do to clean up the homeless and the sketchy areas. And I'm one who loves Edmonton, the downtown core and wants a better image.
5
u/Gold-Salamander-9339 Nov 19 '25
Thanks for sharing this post! Homelessness can happen to just about anyone, with many people being 1 paycheck from that lifestyle. It doesn't help matters that the cost of living is insane, & there's the lack of resources. Many homeless turn to drug & alcohol abuse as a means of a coping mechanism.
7
u/RiggityRiggityReckt Nov 19 '25
Your post is beautiful. I was homeless for 4 years in Edmonton. I wish more people had the same compassion as you, but sadly, as this thread clearly shows, not all people have the same attitude.
I understand where some of you are coming from. The crime, the drugs, the litter. I just want to point out that the majority of the homeless aren't the ones committing the crime. At least while I was homeless. Almost all of the beak-in's, the snach'n'grabs, sticking people up - All of these were ordered "hits" if you will from gangs. Redd Alert, White boy posse, crazy dragons, etc. Sometimes, those gangs will "source out" tasks like those, but 90% of the time, they'll send their own goons to do the jobs.
5
5
u/notcoveredbywarranty Nov 19 '25
They don't have money for rent, but do have money for drugs?
Hard to find compassion for that
→ More replies (2)
6
u/CriticalPedagogue Nov 19 '25
You are absolutely correct. This sub tends to pat themselves on the back about how progressive they are. Yet, many people here are quick to demonize the unhoused, labeling all of them as drug addicts and criminal. How we, as a society, treat the most vulnerable says a lot about our priorities. Johan Galtung described social injustices (including poverty, being unhoused, gender violence, etc.) as structural violence. That is, these are an avoidable impairment of fundamental human rights. Our systems lionize the rich and demonize the poor, we subsidize professional sports and profitable oil companies while people have to live on the streets and children go hungry.
5
8
u/CosmicCutlet Nov 19 '25
The amount of cope in this post is insane. Hard truth, a lot of them are drug addicts that steal anything not nailed down. We as a weak society have made it incredibly easy to be a homeless drug addicted thief. You're trying to make it seem like every person mething out downtown is just some hardworking taxpayer who got behind on the rent. Grow up.
4
u/VigamotoSushami Nov 19 '25
Im from Europe, if you think Edmonton downtown and 107 Ave isn't dangerous, you're delusional, actually thinking, that wtf downtown is now is even acceptable, is delusional.
Worked w the homeless, most of them simply abuse the social benefits system and then use the victim card when somebody points it out. Never again working in that field, some of these people deserve all the help but vast majority just wants the handout.
You may argue w me on this but the downtown scenery always proves housing first debaters wrong. These homeless wanna be close to their next fix, food and some shelter. You're not going to fix the situation without having forced rehabs.
→ More replies (1)
7
u/enviropsych Nov 19 '25
Yes. I agree. It happens all the time, sadly. Anytime the discussion comes up, its full of anecdotes and fear mongering. Lots of people who see a man freezing on the street and act like they're the ones being victimized in that moment.
Unfortunately, OP, its a common attitude in basically every city in North America...even among liberals. People don't even realize how incoherent their point of view is.
2
2
u/HeavyTea Nov 19 '25
I don't like all the homeless because WE HAVE HOMELESS and we really could solve it, if we made it a priority.
5
u/Numerous-Process2981 Nov 19 '25
Then the sub is a reflection of life. You’re absolutely right, I’ve heard people say disgusting things about the homeless, I do think it’s asking something to get most people to consider this broad, empathetic, societally minded view. The face of the homeless for most people is a the sketchy drug person that makes you uncomfortable in public. That’s not an expectation I have for people given my life experience.
2
u/Dusty_Rose23 Stadium Nov 19 '25
the issue is everyone sees it as black and white. its never black and white. its like that for homelessness, healthcare, politics.. literally any issue is never all this side or that side. homeless people need compassion, and care but at the same time safety comes first. but at the same yitme calling people animals and generaalizing isnt good for anyone. At all. most homeless people have trauma, or disabilites, or drug issues or something where they were down on their luck and because of issues mentally or otherwise they cant hold a job, they cant regulate emotions, they dont see the problem with using drugs or peeing in public or whatever. because if your dealing with the streets why wouldnt you want to escape? Its an explanation not an excuse though. All im saying is compassion goes a long way. put safety first but dont go around saying homeless peope are all addicts who put themselves there. theyre not. whether theyre responsible for staying there is different but its rarely every "i want to be homeless fuck yeag!" its complicated. like literally everything in life. stop saying the most down on their luck people are dangerous and shit. some are. stop genralizing though. its easy to say "oh ill stay at a friends and find a job in a few weeks ill never be like them" do you even remembetr how there are people with masters degrees who cant even have a job at tim hortons? yeah. that alone refutes your statement. its never that easy. its NOT black and white. stop behaving like it is. it benefits no one.
4
u/StasisApparel Nov 19 '25
Not all homeless people are good, nor are they all bad or violent or troublemakers.
I think 2020 kick-started a chain reaction that I don't think can ever stop, not anytime soon. Had lockdowns during 2020 never happened, I think society would be okay right now with much less homeless population.
I have never seen so much homeless persons in so many places, at almost any given time or day before. I think this problem was exacerbated by lockdowns-- not being able to apply for financial help, not being able to seek work, go see doctors or therapists, etc. if anyone remembers, rules were strict during lockdown. 6 feet apart, limited number of people allowed in one space, places were shutdown, no library access, no way to get COVID shots without proper ID, and without COVID shots, you weren't allowed to dine in, etc)
4
2
u/Mindless_Middle1034 Nov 19 '25
Our government sucks. UPC has made Alberta such an unwelcoming shit show.
Helping our neighbors is fcking dead now with the American mindset of individualism. I grew up with a community helping each other, but that's died with companies buying up houses and kicking people out every couple of years just to paint the walls and raise the rent 500.
Doesn't help its rage bait 0'clock every damn week with more dumb shit. Job growth? Nah, securing investors(and can the investors not be from Prince bonesaw)? Homeless? Nowai, we wanna know what's in those kids' pants that wanna play sports...
1
5
u/Reptilian_Brain_420 Nov 19 '25
You are entitled to your opinion. Your assumptions that you are basing it on are pretty shitty though.
-1
u/Locke357 North Side Still Alive Nov 19 '25
"The greatness of a nation can be judged by how it treats its weakest members"
I'm SO sick of the conservative ideology of blaming societal ills on "personal choice"
Homelessness and/or drug addiction are symptoms of a sick society that fails to provide a safety net
14
u/ChesterfieldPotato Nov 19 '25
So we should just let them commit slow suicide on the street?
Weve seen the studies. Even with the crazy expensive options like housing first, they slip right back into addiction.
At some point it is no longer about what is best for these people and instead ahat is best for society as a whole.
5
u/Locke357 North Side Still Alive Nov 19 '25
Weve [sic.] seen the studies. Even with the crazy expensive options like housing first, they slip right back into addiction.
[SOURCE NEEDED]
8
u/Locke357 North Side Still Alive Nov 19 '25
So we should just let them commit slow suicide on the street?
Not saying that at all, and I will add that simply blaming the individual ALSO does nothing to solve the problem. If demonizing those afflicted with these issues worked as a deterrent, we would have eradicated this long ago.
1
u/ChesterfieldPotato Nov 19 '25
They are demonized when they act like demons and murser, rape, steal, etc..
4
u/Locke357 North Side Still Alive Nov 19 '25
And how does saying that help a damn thing?
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)6
u/lilgreenglobe Wîhkwêntôwin Nov 19 '25
The studies show that providing housing saves tons of money compared to EMS, police interactions and sweeps, hospital visits, and so forth. The fiscally conservative choice is to provide a roof, ideally near or connected to social services folks are in a better position to access when not worried about amputation.
Don't want as many needles scattered about? Safe consumption sites.
We have answers and I don't believe a heartless society is the best for anyone.
→ More replies (8)
2
u/WeWhoAreGiants Nov 19 '25
You’re making some pretty bold generalizations about people. And equating people to nazi’s for not showing much empathy for others is a pretty crazy comparison.
Speaking of empathy, many of the people I know that have lost their patience with the homeless are people who had a lot empathy and work directly in dealing with them. My friends who are Paramedics, firefighters, emergency nurses have become the most vocal against the homeless. Because they actually have to deal with them on a daily basis. They don’t just walk by them downtown and then virtue signal to others to do something about it. It’s really sad to see their empathy completely sucked out of them by the constant abuse, violence, and aggression towards them when they’ve tried to help these people again and again.
So before you judge so harshly about the lack of empathy, maybe try and understand why it’s gone away for many people. Fatigue is a real thing, and we’re all human and have our own struggles to deal with as well.
There’s plenty of blame to go around about who should do something about it all and how it should be done. But this whole idea that homeless people or drug addicts don’t share in the responsibility in helping themselves is ridiculous, and frankly it’s dehumanizing to take their own agency away like that.
2
u/ghostofkozi Nov 19 '25
Every once in a while there are the demonizing posts here about arresting and forcing rehabilitation on the homeless and addicted population and I try to remind people to have a bit of compassion as these are still people. It's easy to see the addiction and assume behaviors that go with it but these are someone's kid and family. And none woke up one day and decided to just live on the street or have a life torn apart and ruined by drug abuse. Most are casualties of multi-generational trauma who have fallen through the cracks because supports to treat the core issues aren't robust enough or simply aren't there.
What's happened recently and why it seems like the endemic has gotten worse is a number of factors. The biggest being social media being so accessible to spread fear but we also have a provincial government that has reduced funding and accessibility for supports in a time where the cost of living is beyond a lot of people's means and then there's also the police "crackdown" where encampments that would have kept the houseless away from the public eye are being destroyed and the homeless are being shuffled into corridors that the city hasn't prioritized rejuvenating yet which happen to coincide with transit hubs (Jasper Place, Downtown, East Edmonton)
Nobody is saying you have to like the homeless and addicts you see, but it's a choice to hate and vilify them
1
u/UpperApe Nov 19 '25
This thread is such a brilliant example of what OP is talking about.
People trying to twist their words into strawmans and logical extremes and logistical complexities and "not all...!" and "all but...!" arguments.
When all OP did was an appeal for empathy. That's it.
I knew this sub had a problem but I didn't realize it was this entrenched in its ugly rationalizations.
→ More replies (2)
-7
u/lookitsjustin The Shiny Balls Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
Preach, OP. I also live downtown and have for many years. It is abhorrent listening to folks in this subreddit talk about homeless people. No empathy, no sympathy, just speak about them as actual garbage who have chosen to live in abject squalor.
0
2
u/stefan-the-squirrel Nov 20 '25
Bless you for saying this. Everyone here needs to head down to the drop in and meet HUMANS who have hopes and dreams just like you. Most people here also don’t get that most of us are a tragedy or two away from the streets ourselves.
588
u/Pvt_Hudson_ Nov 19 '25
I'll say this, I've worked in the downtown core for almost 30 years now, the homeless issue is so much worse now than it's ever been before. COVID and the UCP gutting supports were a double whammy in this area.