Verbal Discourse

The only thing certain about Ladner wanting to wait for a permanent solution to street homelessness are the deaths occurring in the DTES weekly.

In the first mayoral debate Ladner referred to Philip Mangano, the US czar of homelessness, that "housing first" was the way to go. When I spoke to Philip and when I told him that the City has a deliberate written policy not to do more shelters he was perplexed and he asked him what was the City going to do with the homeless in the meantime. I told Ladner this and at the next debate he said that the City's Housing Director, Cameron Gray, was the "expert" and Cameron said that we need permanent solutions. Of course Cameron would say that as he is an employee.

As for Robertson, he is doing the same thing as City Council has always done is listen to the wrong people and not use common sense. There is no reason for anyone to be living on the streets. Putting a mat on the floor at Storyeum is negligible in cost so why is he even considering opening additional buildings such as community centers. Such a plan is nothing more than a logistic nightmare. We do not need portable shelters all over the City. We need shelters that can stablize people and not move them each morning to the street and then to another shelter.