Dealing with the Root of Homelessness

Underpass closure is an admission of failure

As many in Medicine Hat have already heard, the City has installed gates to lock the pedestrian underpass to the downtown every night from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

This underpass has been open every day since I first moved here in 1974, probably much longer. However, the sad truth is that a rising tide of crime, drugs, violence, and homelessness, has changed the face of our City’s core.

According to the City, “the infrastructure is not being used as intended, particularly late at night.” For those of you who haven’t spent as many years as I have sifting through bureaucratic doublespeak, that means the City has given up on trying to police crime in the underpass.

As for the homeless who periodically retreat to the underpass seeking warmth, “the City has an obligation to do our best to protect from unintended consequences when we are aware of a safety concern that is preventable.”

Bureaucrat to English translation: “Move along.”

For a City Council that has repeatedly bragged about its progressive efforts to fight crime and homelessness, the pedestrian underpass closure should be seen as an admission of failure.

Just two years ago, in June of 2021, the City of Medicine Hat declared to the world that we were “the first city in Canada to functionally end chronic homelessness.”

Of course, within months community agencies were pointing out what has become increasingly obvious to anyone who spends time in and around our downtown area: the issue is far from remedied.

Today homelessness, whether it is related to unemployment, under-employment, addictions, or mental health issues, continues to plague our city despite the best efforts of dozens of dedicated social workers and volunteers.

We agree on one thing: Looking away isn’t going to solve this problem. But neither is fighting this cause with one hand tied behind our back.

For far too long, the City has focused its efforts on “ending,” homelessness on what experts sometimes refer to as social causes. While tearing back the stigma to address issues such as drug abuse, physical and sexual abuse, mental disorders, and others is vital, it doesn’t address the economic side of the equation.

The sad fact is, in our society, it is getting too difficult for the little guy to get ahead.  For decades now, incomes have not risen to keep pace with basic expenses, including housing. At the same time, taxes rise every year, outpaced only by the size of government and inflation.

With a shortage of housing (exacerbated by municipal restrictions on development), the cost of buying a new home is increasingly out of reach for all but wealthy and dual-income families. Meanwhile, according to a recent report from TransUnion, Canada’s household debt levels have increased 4.4 percent this year, to a total of $2.34 trillion dollars. This means that even those lucky enough to own a home are now working longer and longer to cover the cost of interest on their mortgage and credit card debts.

When it gets harder and harder to get ahead, the obvious side effect is that people lose hope. When more and more families fall into poverty every year, it becomes impossible to keep pace with treating the rising tide of drugs, crime, and other social causes of homelessness.

In short, any plan to end homelessness that doesn’t include a plan to improve incomes, economic stability, and quality of life for our friends and neighbors is ultimately doomed to failure.

If the City wants to fight homelessness, it is time to refocus on economic measures that help the little guy get ahead:

• Reduce property taxes;

• Reduce the cost of utilities;

• Reduce the size and expense of government;

• Reduce debt;

• Streamline and reduce business regulation;

• Encourage the creation of quality, mortgage-paying, private sector, full-time jobs.

When we grow a stronger local economy from the ground up, it benefits us all.

Most importantly, it helps restore hope for those who need it most.