Toronto News

Counting the homeless what was the point?

On Wednesday the city of Toronto finally got around to doing what other major cities managed to accomplish years ago--they did a count of the number of people who are living on the citys streets. Of course being so politically correct the city mothers did not call it a "count"; it was referred to as a "street needs assessment". Four hundred plus workers and around 1,700 scabs, er, volunteers walked the streets of our formerly fair city for a few hours to present the dwelling challenged with a questionnaire. Those who agreed to answer the questions were rewarded with a $5 voucher for fast food--you know food that is sold by those restaurants that will probably be abolished in Dalton McGuintys Ontario long before the last of Torontos homeless disappear from our streets and parks. The results of the count will be released sometime in July.

The notion of trying to determine exactly how many people call parks and heating grates home met with a lot of resistance from those in the poverty industry. These are the ones that benefit from at least the perception that there are more homeless in Toronto than there actually are. These groups came up with all kinds of reasons why the count, oops, street needs assessment shouldnt be done.

One argument was that asking the homeless questions would somehow be a breach of their privacy. Apparently the homeless that live on public sidewalks should be protected from being asked questions (as opposed to being hassled). It seems its permissible to knock on peoples doors and ask questions, but not to question those who are living in public places.

Another argument was that the count would be meaningless because it would miss those who have a place to live but are "on the verge" of becoming homeless. Using this logic, we should be able to reduce crime by sending the police out to arrest people who havent done anything illegal but who are "on the verge" of committing a crime. This argument is just sheer nonsense. It was a nice try though.

A further argument made against the proposed count was that it would not be accurate because it would miss those who, for perhaps only that one night, found a friends couch to sleep on. Using this line of thinking there is no point in Canada ever conducting a census because it would miss those Canadian residents who, during the particular time of the count, are temporarily in Pakistan undergoing terrorist training. More nonsense.

Perhaps the silliest reason for opposing the counting of the homeless was the fear that the whereabouts of some of the people would be given to the police. Instead of going out to Scarborough or Rexdale to look for killers, the cops might use this "intelligence" to go en masse to the Rosedale Valley to roust the homeless.

Of course, the standard and unimaginative argument was made by the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee and others; that the $90,000 that the city spent on the count would be put to better use if it was used to feed the homeless. That makes sense on one level, but that could be said for most of the money that is spent by our free spending council. The city would undoubtedly be better off if all the grants that were handed out to those in the poverty business were cancelled and the money used to feed the homeless. At least the argument about missing those "on the verge" was at least creative.

Having said all that, it was a waste of time and money to conduct the count or special needs assessment or whatever you want to call it. The reality is that David Miller and his useful idiots on council lack the political will to alleviate Torontos homeless problem. The city throws over $200 million a year at a problem that they really have no interest in solving. The city mothers will accept nothing less than a permanent "home" for the homeless. Temporary solutions such as more shelters will simply not do. And Mayor Miller, Chief Panhandler of the City of Toronto who needs the homeless on the streets in order to beg for more money from the provincial and federal governments. The last thing that this city council is capable of doing is taking responsibility to solve a problem like homelessness on its own. The homeless situation wouldnt be as bad as it is if the city had any intention of actually alleviating homelessness.

The reality is that there is no reason to have to know the magnitude of a problem that there is a lack of political will to remedy.

Arthur Weinreb is an author, columnist and Associate Editor of Toronto Free Press. His work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Men's News Daily, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck and The Rant. Arthur can be reached at: Columns 2006 '05 '04 '03 '02 '01 '00 1999 Media 2006 '05 '04 '03 '02 Toronto 2006 '05 '04