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We know that for every one person that is going from street to home, there are about
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5-10 people that are going from home to street.
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We really need to look at them as the individual that they are, whether they're meeting their
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substance use schools or not.
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You're exactly right, Matt, when people are deprived of housing and they feel like there's
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no other options and the one option is survival.
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And survival is a really hard work.
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We've got a great show for you today.
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Michelle and Melissa are joining us to talk about how they and 76 of their frontline colleagues
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feel about how some members of City Council are handling the homelessness crisis here in
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They're also going to tell us about what it's like to work in this field and the challenges
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that they face every day.
0:59
Winter is here, time to discover Bicycle Cafe, cozy up with our daily soup and sandwich,
1:05
or unwind with an evening latte and Dutch comfort food.
1:08
London Bicycle Cafe at the Forks of the Tems.
1:14
Michelle is a community care worker who has 23 years experience working the front lines
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of the homelessness crisis.
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Melissa is a frontline worker who's been doing this work since 2018.
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There are over 2,000 people who are experiencing homelessness here in London.
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And that number grows each and every month.
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People like Michelle and Melissa provide support to these individuals who are living rough.
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At a recent council meeting, members of council were considering a number of policy changes
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that a group of 78 frontline workers say would have made their work harder and the lives
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of the folks that they serve harder still.
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When council met to discuss the changes, these frontline workers filled the gallery.
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This caught council's attention and the changes didn't happen.
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On top of the 2,200 people experiencing homelessness here in London, there are also another 83,000
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people living rough across Ontario.
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As Londoners, we hear about and we witness the homelessness crisis on a regular basis.
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Michelle and Melissa and their colleagues are immersed in it every single day.
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They're here with us to tell us all about it.
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Michelle and Melissa, welcome to Newsmakers.
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Thank you for having us.
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So first, Michelle, let's start with you.
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You're part of a group of 78 frontline workers.
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You recently wrote an open letter to all members of London City Council and you lobbied for
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Londoners to do the same.
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Can you tell me about this group?
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Sure, I'd be happy to.
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The group collectively, we have over 700 years of experience.
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That's some experience.
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Yes, and we have a variety of experiences.
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Many of us are well-read and have contributed to research.
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We have participated on countless committees, advisory panels and professional workshops.
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We have, we're a group that deeply cares for our community.
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We're deeply committed to the people that we work with and we serve.
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We've forged meaningful and lasting relationships with people that have often been left for
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dead by the rest of society.
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We also have a deep understanding of homelessness.
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Many of us have personally experienced homelessness often at a young age.
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We are passionate about this topic and we are passionate about our work.
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Yeah, it sounds like a group of some pretty special people.
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Yeah, we're also like one or two paychecks away from accessing our own services as well.
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So, you know, it's an important issue.
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Well, we're going to learn all about that today.
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Melissa, can you tell us about the letter that was sent to council?
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So the letter, its purpose was to inform council that the decisions they're making have consequences,
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real human consequences and our concern was that what they were proposing at the time,
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cutting some funding to certain services and providing it to others while necessary was also
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could be very, very detrimental.
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Yeah, absolutely and thanks for outlining it like that.
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I'm going to say that your group demonstrated democracy in action.
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Not only did you write the letter, you also filled the gallery at that council meeting.
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And I think you changed minds, people who were contemplating these changes were voted down
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by the majority of council and the policy relating to warming centers was improved.
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So congratulations and thank you for that.
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I wonder what motivated you to do this, to move in this direction?
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I felt really motivated by realizing how necessary it was for us to come together
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and increase our visibility, amplify our voices and show really how important this issue was to
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all of us. We all, all 78 of us saw the importance of what these decisions could mean and yeah,
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it was, I just really felt like I needed to be a part of it personally to show my support.
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Absolutely. It was an important win and that said, the homelessness crisis is still upon us.
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2,200 people are experiencing homelessness here in London.
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They're joined by 83,000 other individuals right across the province and that number goes up
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each and every month. What's happening on the front lines?
5:47
Well, as you've mentioned, we are in a crisis.
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We know that for every one person that is going from street to home,
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there are about 5 to 10 people that are going from home to street.
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So we are seeing numbers across the board increase which for folks that are doing
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outreach and working at services, it just stretches the organizations, it stretches the programs
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and the resources and it creates really long wait lists for people.
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So we're seeing a lot of exhaustion, seeing preventable deaths happening by the numbers.
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Yeah, it's not a good situation out there.
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A really, really hard work. Addiction and homelessness can sometimes go hand in hand.
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And I wonder if we could talk about that. Melissa?
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So people who use substances often face barriers when trying to access services,
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a lot of services expect abstinence and that just isn't realistic for every person
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who uses substances and so services like primary and mental health care, housing support,
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social services, a lot of people are denied access to those programs and services and it leaves
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them with nothing, with no support.
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Creates a huge challenge. I see that very, very clearly.
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And I think that some people think that oftentimes substance use occurs and then it results in
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homelessness. And in almost every case, that's not the direction that the line goes.
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A person experiences homelessness, they're living rough, their life is really terrible and they turn
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to substances. Michelle? Yeah, you're exactly right, Matt. When people are deprived of housing
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and they feel like there's no other options and the one option is survival and survival is really
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hard work. We've only got a couple of minutes left that I want to make sure that you have those
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minutes. And so any final message, what would you like to see moving forward Melissa?
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I think moving forward, we really need to provide permanent services to the people we're already
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serving. And we need more housing first programs. We need to focus on harm reduction and meeting
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these people where they're at. We really need to look at them as the individual that they are,
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whether they're meeting their substance use schools or not. And that could include abstinence,
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it may not. And just really, really being there to support them, get them housed and get them healthy.
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Michelle? Yeah, I agree with a lot of what Melissa said. I think that something to remember going
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forward is that we are all equal and we belong to each other. And our community is only as strong
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as our most vulnerable members. So I think when we go into a voting year, I think the things to think
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about when we are casting our votes is, are we considering the most vulnerable people in our
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community? And how can we be stronger community together? Or are we going to cast votes that just
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line the pockets of a few wealthy power brokers in our city? Fair enough. And you're absolutely right.
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This is an election year. I think this will be one of the topics that is discussed over the course
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of the next several months. I'm afraid we're out of time. Your message is very moving. The work
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that you do and that your colleagues do is incredibly important. And I think that it would only
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be appropriate to finish this segment by saying thank you. Thank you to you and to your colleagues
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for doing what you can to help our most vulnerable community members. Thank you. Thank you, Matt. We do
9:35
it together. Winter is here. Time to discover Bicycle Cafe. Cozy up with our daily soup and sandwich
9:43
or unwind with an evening latte and Dutch comfort food. London Bicycle Cafe at the forks of the
9:50
temps. See you soon. Okay, that's the show. Thank you for tuning in. This show is for you. In fact,
9:58
we couldn't do it without you. And as always, we do want to hear from you. You can write us
10:03
at the Matt Brown podcast at gmail.com. Tell us what you think. Tell us what you'd like us to cover
10:09
in a future episode. And thanks to everyone who's already doing this. The back and forth has been
10:15
great. So that's the show. I'm Matt Brown and you've been listening to the Matt Brown podcast.
10:21
It's the show about all things London and maybe some other stuff too. As always, thanks for listening.
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Bye for now and talk to you again soon.