Could homelessness get worse? Yes, it could.
People who work with the homeless say there’s been talk but very little is being done to help them at a time when they need extra care not to become vectors of contagion or get sick themselves.
The CBC item goes into the need for volunteers, and mentions François Legault’s announcement Thursday of a website where people can offer their help. But I can’t make this square with other demands being made. You can’t do most volunteer work from home. You have to go somewhere and mix with other people. For example, the CBC piece mentions a need for people to cook for a soup kitchen, which is not something you do in isolation, or necessarily while keeping two meters away from the people you’re working with. Will volunteers have to be regularly tested?
Alison Cummins 23:42 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
I imagine it’s something like being a health care worker. It’s gotta be done, so you do it — and “it” includes protecting yourself.
JP 20:53 on 2020-03-27 Permalink
Regarding volunteering in a kitchen, maybe they’ve decided to have fewer volunteers within the same space. I noticed the Santropol Roulant has made some changes to their volunteering shifts recently.
https://santropolroulant.org/en/2020/03/prevention-measures-covid-19/
I have no idea about the regular testing, though something tells me there won’t be.
Michael Black 21:34 on 2020-03-27 Permalink
Alison’s right.
But, one issue I read is that many volunteers were older, and thus vulnerable. And groups are unwilling to add new volunteers at this time, because they might have the virus.
An earlier article mentioned that many groups relied on groups of volunteers from a business and that’s dropoed off as business shut down.
But, Resilience Montreal has a post up.asking for people who can cook at home. Well the home part is sort of implied. So maybe they see it as an emergency situation, so regular rules don’t matter.
They already moved to the park to hand out food (that old McDonald’s place is cramped, when I.dropped something off in December a lot of people in the space where the door opens, not sure how they use tge space), and apparently the cops tried to shut them down. Now it’s part of tye plan. At least the weather is warming up. They were also looking for clothes. Resioience as a building is closed, though I can’t remember where I saw that
Alison Cummins 21:55 on 2020-03-27 Permalink
So they need… Money? Food? Volunteers? It’s unclear what exactly is needed, and from who. And if someone has resources to offer, who to contact.