You might have seen it on the back of Metro Today, or on the side of a bus shelter. A bold assertion from the Province of Ontario that there is, indeed, help available for the homeless.
The statement was made in an advertisement designed by the Ministry of Community and Social Services that ran from mid-December to early March. The ad promoted a phone line designed to receive calls from members of the general public who are not homeless themselves, but have a particular concern that relates to homelessness. People are encouraged to call the line whenever they come across “someone in need of shelter.” It also suggests that calling the line is “all you need to do to help someone out of the cold.”
On a very cold night several weeks ago, I came across a man sleeping on a grate next to Campbell House at Queen & University. Just as the ad suggested, I decided he was someone in need of shelter, so I called the helpline. When I got through, I was first advised to call 911 in the case of an emergency. I was then put on hold for no more than thirty seconds before a pleasant-sounding woman answered the phone. After I explained the situation, she thanked me for calling and asked me if I knew what the man wanted. I admitted I had not even spoken to him.
“No problem,” she said. “We’ll have our van drop by to see if he wants anything.”
I admit I didn’t wait around to see if, and when, the van arrived. But judging from the response to my phone call, there really is help available for the homeless. The question is, who is providing the help, and is it enough?
The Street Helpline itself is operated by a non-profit, private agency called Community Information Toronto (CIT). The organization administers a whole network of phone lines for the public, including one for victims of crime and domestic violence, one for assaulted women, one providing information about food banks, and still another providing information about general community services. As it turns out, it operates not one, but two Street Helplines. One is for the homeless themselves (397-3777), while the other, featured in the provincial ads, is for the public at large (397-5022). Community Information Toronto created the public line last year so that community calls would not be answered at the expense of calls from the homeless.
CIT has separate goals for each of its helplines. The first line directly links homeless persons to the services they need most—shelter, food, clothing and medical help. It is staffed by counsellors who have been homeless themselves, and can therefore be more sensitive to the particular needs of their callers. So that poverty is never a barrier to receiving information about important services, CIT accepts all collect calls made to this line.
The public helpline, on the other hand, is staffed mostly by social workers. The line receives many different types of callers. Some, like myself, call about a specific homeless individual. Others call because they are concerned about homelessness in general. Still others call to complain about the “laziness” of homeless persons. Other inquiries might include where one can volunteer and how one can make a donation.
The line was created in the early 90s to centralize communication services for the homeless. It plays a critical role in linking the homeless to social service agencies and organizations that are designed to assist them.
One such organization is Out of the Cold, a network of churches, synagogues, mosques, hospitals and other institutions that offer food, shelter and counselling to the homeless. Certain sites open their doors on certain days and at certain times, so informing the homeless about the schedule of Out of the Cold members is difficult. This is where Community Information Toronto steps in.
“The helpline is good for everyone,” says Evadne Wilkinson, executive director of Out of the Cold. “It’s good for the homeless and it’s good for the public.”
There is no question that there is help available for the homeless. But there are limitations. It is a sad fact that the man I saw sleeping at Queen & University may have been lying there because he had been turned away from fully booked shelters. Allyson Hewitt, executive director of Community Information Toronto, acknowledges that simply telling the public about the helpline is not enough. She says many of the homeless people she approaches know about the service, but don’t go to the shelters after having been told time and time again that all beds are full.
Yet the province’s ad promises the homeless “a warm bed, a kind voice, a helping hand.” While the latter two may be available thanks to organizations like Community Information Toronto and Out of the Cold, the homeless are never guaranteed a bed for the night.
The ad does not mention Community Information Toronto, implying the province is responsible for providing the service. As far back as 1995, however, the Harris government cut 100 per cent of its funding for community information centres like CIT. Since then, 85 per cent of CIT’s funding has come from the City of Toronto, while the other 15 per cent has come from the United Way. The province contributed some funding for the operation of the public line, but not the homeless helpline.
The province provided this funding as part of its December 2000 Provincial Homelessness Strategy, which contributed $26 million to the cause. The money has not been misspent on the helpline, but homeless advocates say much more is needed.
The Toronto Disaster Relief Committee consists of such advocates—social workers, academics and activists who believe homelessness in Toronto should be seen as a national disaster by all levels of government, and treated accordingly.
The TDRC has expressed concern over the province’s failure to address what they see as the root cause of homelessness: a lack of affordable housing. They point to the National Housing Agreement, signed last year, where the federal government committed $244 million for housing in Ontario alone, asking the provincial government to match that amount. So far, they say, the province has only set aside $20 million. Without affordable housing, only so much can be done for the homeless. Community Information Toronto can, and will, continue to refer persons to available shelter beds, meals and health facilities. Out of the Cold and other outreach organizations will continue to provide safe environments, counseling, training and sometimes even employment. But without a home, a person is still by definition homeless. The province is performing an important service by funding and promoting the public helpline. But it misleads people into believing that the province is paying for the line, that there are ample beds available, and, most of all, that calling the helpline is the only thing we can do to help the homeless. We can certainly begin by calling the helpline. But then we need to give some serious thought to how committed we are to solving the problem of homelessness in Toronto.
