Dear editor,

Re:Stolen bike at safety meeting symbolic of growing downtown Courtenay concern

Yes, I have compassion for the businesses and residents in downtown Courtenay who are being impacted by Courtenay鈥檚 homeless population, but homeless people don鈥檛 feel safe either. They鈥檙e always at risk of going hungry, getting sick from sleeping outdoors, being assaulted (especially women), losing their belongings, being unable to find any place where they are welcome. They need our compassion too.

Picture waking up in the morning in a sleeping bag in the woods because there aren鈥檛 enough beds in the shelters for everyone. It鈥檚 cold and uncomfortable sleeping on the ground, your tarp was stolen so your sleeping bag is wet and you have nowhere to dry it. You aren鈥檛 sure where you鈥檒l find a bathroom. You鈥檙e hoping to get breakfast somehow, and maybe a shower and some clean clothes. You need healthcare some dental work but you haven鈥檛 figured out how to show up for appointments when your life is so chaotic. Perhaps the owner of your shopping cart will take it back, tossing your belongings into a dumpster. You know it isn鈥檛 right to take shopping carts but you don鈥檛 know what else to do. Everything that you own is in that cart - a sleeping bag and tarp for nights when you don鈥檛 get into a shelter, clothing, hygiene items, food, some mementoes from your previous life that you鈥檝e been able to hang onto. It鈥檚 too much to carry in a backpack.

Homeless numbers haven鈥檛 increased since the Connect Centre opened on Cliffe Avenue because anyone thought 鈥渙h, there鈥檚 this cool place called Connect. I think I鈥檒l become homeless and hang out there.鈥� It鈥檚 because housing in the Valley is so tight and so expensive that more and more people are unable to find anywhere to live. Even people with jobs are ending up unhoused. Connect is one of the few places that will offer them some comfort. A bathroom, a telephone, a hot drink, a place to get out of the rain and cold, a place to feel welcome.

Nobody chooses to become homeless. It鈥檚 a series of unfortunate circumstances that cause people to end up on the street. Perhaps they aren鈥檛 able to work or hold a job, or can鈥檛 get hired, because of mental illness, drugs, health issues, learning difficulties, or lack of job skills. And it鈥檚 not easy to show up on time for a job if you鈥檙e sleeping in the woods. Welfare or disability payments provide $375 a month for 鈥渟helter.鈥� Anybody who鈥檚 been paying attention knows you can鈥檛 find even a room in a shared house in the Comox Valley for $375 a month.

Yes, homeless people are under the same law as everybody else is, but they don鈥檛 have the same kind of life everybody else has. Their lives are hard, unsafe and unpredictable. Maybe if governments can鈥檛 figure out any way to house people they could at least provide them with shopping carts. But apparently the idea now is to just get them out of sight somewhere.

Ellen Rainwalker,

Cumberland