Tickets to homeless keep increasing
The number of tickets issued to the homeless here has skyrocketed over the last 30 years according to a wide study carried out by three universities.
The homeless population receives close to 40 per cent of the fines issued in Montreal, according to their findings.
However you feel about homeless people, the city and its police have to recognize the sheer futility of issuing fines to people with no resources.
Update: The study also shows that indigenous homeless people are hit with an even heavier burden of fines.
John B 19:24 on 2021-01-21 Permalink
And I can’t imagine it’s easy to get off the street and get housing and/or a job with tons of unpaid tickets.
Bill Binns 19:58 on 2021-01-21 Permalink
“an individual would spend between $438 and $1,750 per week and between $22,810 and $91,250 per year on heroin, depending on its street price.”
https://www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/how-much-do-drugs-cost/
Booze isn’t much cheaper. The homeless have cash flow and thanks to the myriad of services available to them for free, have few expenses other than their drug of choice.
dwgs 20:32 on 2021-01-21 Permalink
Jesus Bill, really? I’m often ok with your posts even when others aren’t but this is beyond the pale. Have you never known an addict? An alcoholic? Do you think that these people are capable of making choices and budgets? Do you believe that anyone would choose such a life?
MarcG 20:59 on 2021-01-21 Permalink
Seriously, Bill, you make it sound like fun. Why aren’t we all living on the street?
Bill Binns 21:02 on 2021-01-21 Permalink
@dwgs – What was so shocking about my comment? Why must the homeless be treated as helpless babies? Is that really the only allowable opinion? Go talk to some people involved on a daily basis with these people. I have. Talk to the homeless themselves. They will be the absolute first people to tell you the real truth about their situation and how they found themselves in it. A large chunk of the homeless population drift in and out of homelessness as a conscious, planned choice to spend more time with their drug of choice.
Since you asked, yes I have known some addicts. My father, grandfather, uncles and brother are all alcoholics at various levels of functionality. My maternal grandfather was a welder and died in a workplace accident after going to work drunk. My mother lost her job as an emergency room nurse for stealing pills. Oh yeah, my 30 year old sister has 5 kids with 5 different fathers and is probably homeless or in jail right now.
MarcG 21:08 on 2021-01-21 Permalink
So instead of showing sympathy for your family you throw them under the bus? Psychology is complicated.
walkerp 21:09 on 2021-01-21 Permalink
Starting to think Bill Binns is one of your sockpuppets, Kate, to spark discussion. The heel shtick is just a little too exaggerated. 😉
walkerp 21:10 on 2021-01-21 Permalink
I mean how do you go from “what a waste of time and money to ticket homeless people that doesn’t help them or society” to “treating them like helpless babies” lol.
Kevin 22:01 on 2021-01-21 Permalink
Some of you have never had (semi-) functional addicts in your life and it shows.
Michael Black 22:19 on 2021-01-21 Permalink
But addiction is a thing separate from homelessness. People can be addicted and still live well (assuming they had money first. One could argue that.money causes addiction). Others can steal a lot, and have a roof over their heads.
But people can be homeless without drugs. Women in a bad relationship leave, and have nowhere to go. People with unstable income, an emergency comes along, and rent money gets spent on the emergency. Somebody has prblems, and can’t make rent? A pandemic comes along, and they lose their job, or have to move out because there’s no room.
I know nothing about addiction, but I know not all homeless are addicts. And I suspect some start drinking or drugs because of their situation, rather than tye cause if their situation.
dwgs 22:21 on 2021-01-21 Permalink
Started to write a glib reply to you Bill but deleted it. I grew up with a nasty, hellish, abusive alcoholic father. I carried that demon with me for years after he died, it really fucks you up on levels you don’t even realize. His father was an alcoholic invalid, his brother was an alcoholic, his sister suffered from mental illness to the point where she underwent electroshock therapy, I have a maternal uncle who was a lifelong mostly functional alcoholic, a sister who is an alcoholic as well as several other siblings who married alcoholics and/or abusive assholes. I understand your anger, believe me. The thing is, the drug rules them. Despite what they might say, they’re not making a conscious choice to live on the street in thrall to their addiction.
dwgs 22:22 on 2021-01-21 Permalink
Good point Michael.
Kate 10:23 on 2021-01-22 Permalink
dwgs, thanks for sharing that history with us, and thanks, Michael Black, for drawing some important distinctions, and Bill Binns, for also sharing your history. It’s important for a personal history not to make us feel tough and competent and thus seeing others as weak. What we are, largely, is lucky, in inheriting the genes that (somehow, we don’t really have the full picture yet) make us less susceptible to addictive tendencies.
Bill Binns 12:26 on 2021-01-22 Permalink
@Michael Black “addiction is a thing separate from homelessness”.
You would think so and I’m sure they exist but sane, non addicted, non criminals are the unicorns of the homeless world. You would never know this from listening to what advocates say publicly though. Again and again we hear the fantasy that homelessness is caused by expensive rent. As if the guy sleeping behind a dumpster with a needle in his arm would be just fine if a studio apartment cost $700 a month rather than $1100.