Homeless in a Pandemic

Homeless Encampment in Toronto

On our morning cycles along the Belleville waterfront we pass through a wooded area with a rough trail rather than taking the paved road. There is a lovely lookout spot where we sometimes stop to view the Bay of Quinte. Over the past few months this opening has been taken over by a person or persons living in a tent, and often the area is chaotic. Someone has built a small sailing raft pulled up on shore. 

The other day I encountered one of the tenters and he proved to be an open and cheerful guy who has been homeless for several months. He's originally from Nova Scotia and says he built the raft in honour of a ten-year-old son who died. We exchanged "have a good day" farewells and off I went to my comfortable life. 

During the pandemic we've heard some news about homeless people who often live in encampments and are vulnerable to the coranavirus. As a society we generally agree that homelessness is a sad condition and that "something ought to be done." That "something" tends to have a NIMBY subtext with concerns about where the homeless will be housed (they have to live somewhere, but not near me!) Here in Belleville the opening of a shelter by a faith group has been met with concern that it is attracting undesirables from other communities. The police say that this is not the case, but the chatter continues.

In Toronto people have protested the use of hotels to house the homeless in their neighbourhoods. They say that parks are no longer safe and that drug paraphernalia is left on the streets. This may well be true, and their concerns may be legitimate, but where are these folk supposed to go if they aren't allowed to "sleep rough" and there is little in the way of affordable housing? There is an irony during the pandemic that camping has become very popular but God help those who are actually forced to live this way. 

There are no easy answers to homelessness, although some communities have essentially ended it by concerted government affordable housing initiatives. Support for mental health and addiction programs and reasonable social assistance all make a difference as well.

Jesus was a homeless person for a period of his life and "slept rough" in the Garden of Gethsemane where he was arrested the night before his crucifixion. Christians tend not to say "there goes the neighbourhood because, well, this was Jesus. But if he showed up near us, would we want someone to move him and his band of suspicious followers down the road? 

Jesus' Disciples in Gethsemane