The current state of the homeless and the federal election.

   None of the larger political parties in Canada appear to have a commitment to end homelessness. Voters concerned on that issue will have to lobby them all.

   The debate between party leaders so far has been one over who killed the homeless, with Jack Layton accusing Paul Martin of killing people by ending housing programs during the Chretien years.

   Today we see that the market does not work to house people. Condo towers are rising everywhere in Toronto, yet only couples or families with a high income can afford them.

   There are lots of apartment vacancies, but again, you have to be able to pay 800 dollars or more to get one.

   Politicians should believe in housing as a right, and provide it instead of talking about tossing in so many dollars that end up only housing a small number of people while many others are on the street.

   The article below is about people living under an expressway during this federal election. And of the course media only showed up a few days ago when the news feature was on the eviction of people under the Bathurst Bridge. Politicians don’t even bother to do anything at all.

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OCAP at the Expressway – May.29.2004

By Gary Morton

Photo http://photosc.msspro.com/pic/clarke1.jpg

   John Clarke knows they didn’t give us much in the difference. Mayor Miller is little better than Mel when it comes to the homeless. He sort of got lost in an idea of cleaning up and it went too far till he washed the city clean of bacteria and life.

    Hey! Clean up the streets then go to sleep at night with dead bodies for a pillow.

    Unless you go down to rest under the expressway.

    And when we are all forgotten by the greedy we will remember the humble nature of our lives.

    But for now we have been officially forgotten by all levels of government and we don’t care.

    In the absence of media, John Clarke woke me up with his talk today. I realized that I had forgotten too … about the homeless. And I also realized that John Clarke is one of the few people with the courage to tell the truth inside of a society in denial. In some ways he’s the only one.

    It truly is a disgrace that in Toronto … one of the wealthiest areas in the world … that people live in a state of desperate homelessness.

    I have lost faith in the lies of the powers that be. They reach for electoral power and we know they don’t care … but can’t fully admit it.

    In all these years I had questions. But this time I believe in John Clarke. I believe in the homeless people living under a bridge … because they are there, when our society owes them something much better.

   I remember most the woman with a kitten on a leash, and another woman screaming that Miller gave an apartment to a man and left women in the dirt under the expressway.

   A token apartment and people fighting for shelter does please the media … and sometimes the spring sunshine reminds some of us that hope belongs to us all.

    Death on the street can end up as the truth, when those cops suck us all down the drain … so believe in … believe in … I can’t tell you what to believe in … so stick together.

   I said it earlier … after all these years … I believe in John Clarke … never a close friend of mine … but always a great guy and up there at the front … coming across with the message … till I finally understood its importance. And I saw it in his eyes this time. I knew he was telling it like it is …

   We all have a right to a home … damn it.

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