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The Path to Homelessness: Who Walks it & How do they Get there?

by Teresa Wright

Most of us snuggle into our comfy beds, at the end of the day, grateful for having a roof over our head, a full stomach, and a warm dry place to sleep. We know how lucky we are to have the means to sustain it all, or, do we?
Did you know that on any given night an estimated 100,000 Canadians don't have that luxury? Were you aware that over the course of a year, approximately 2.5 million people in this country will have xperienced a period without a place to call home, or the means to secure one? Little verifiable data exists to put a true number to the population of homeless people in the province and, reported statistics for the City of Toronto vary broadly. Depending on the source (toronto.ca, The Homeless Hub, The John Howard Society, Haven Toronto, and others) the number of people who have no bed of their own to sleep in on any given night in Toronto, ranges between 4000 and 8000.
The line between being homeless or not is fluid. City officials and government organizations never cease attempting to carve out figures and facts, trying to etch in stone a clear picture of homelessness. But it is not a single marker along a continuum of economy. For every family or individual who faces precarious employment or housing, who wakes and sleeps a bit hungrier than most, who has basic expenses far outweighing their income, the risk of losing their housing ebbs and flows. They experience few gains, but frequent little losses as the tide rushes in to wash away their pay cheque, taking more each time, and leaving less.

Homeless people are not a distinct population. The roads into and out of homelessness are neither linear nor uniform. People from various demographics, with little, if anything in common, can wind up homeless. The individuals and families, and their circumstances are diverse, aside from common reality that they became extremely vulnerable, and lacked adequate housing and income to keep themselves housed. Homelessness usually results from the cumulative impact of a number of factors, rather than a single cause.
Toronto has become the archetype of a homelessness disaster. Every night of the year, thousands of people with no place to call their own, find themselves without choice. Less than 3500 of them are ‘lucky enough’ to secure a shelter stay, the remaining 500 – 4500 without a roof rough it on the street. Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. So, it’s not surprising that some of these destitute folks get creative, putting nooks of buildings and limited supplies to the best possible use. 
Considering how hard it is becoming to find affordable housing, and how challenging it can be to secure stable employment, more people are finding themselves without any better option than places barely suited for human habitation, like the East End Motel on Kingston Road, pictured above. But they know it’s better than no roof at all.
The Bluffs Communities are not immune to this trending statistic, this disaster. Follow along as we reach out to some of these folks to tell their stories in upcoming issues of The Bluffs Voice.