Toronto Homeless Essay, Research Paper

One of the largest growing concerns in Toronto is the constantly

increasing number of citizens who are finding themselves living on the

streets. With the decrease in the number of jobs that do

not require a high school diploma, the population

of homeless people has literally boomed. My questions are not as simple to

answer as they may appear. Why is a large portion of our community forced

to live on the streets? What has be done to decrease the problem?

With the economical wealth attributed to the name “Canada”, one would

have to wonder why there is a homeless situation at all. This problem is

especially evident in Canada’s wealthiest city, Toronto. When it comes to

the affairs of the people, it is the government who should intervene. When

I look at what the government has done with regard to the homeless problem,

I have to doubt that everything is being done to eradicate it. The United

Nations implemented a universal declaration of human rights. Article 25

Section 1 of this declaration states:

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health

and well being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing,

housing, and medical care and necessary social services, and to the right

to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood,

old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

This is a step in the right direction. However, this is not enough.

These rights are subject to the discretion of the government of the country

who decides to obey these universal rights. How much is “adequate”?

The government, both at the federal (mostly at federal) and municipal levels, is currently

working on new spending cuts. These cuts also include spending on welfare,

unemployment and social services that are geared towards helping the

homeless. Spending cuts can be seen as a necessity to maintain the country

economically, but the reason for having a government in the first place is

to take care of the people. How can this be done when money is being taken

away from those services that are necessary to uphold this obligation?

Simply put, it cannot. Those obligations are served by nonprofit

organizations who depend on government grants to maintain a standard of

care for those who need the services.

The blame cannot be placed only on the government. Such a system of

assistance depends on its beneficiaries to be honest and have some

integrity. Many recipients of these services attempt to “cheat the

system”. With no will to search for work many of these recipients remain

at home and reap the benefits of their weekly cheques. This causes the

government to create other services to control the amounts of money being

distributed to those people. This process is costly and would be

unnecessary if all of the recipients decided to take an honest approach to

this service.

What can the government do to decrease the homeless population?

Although there is no quick and easy answer to solve this difficult problem,

Toronto has the means to attempt economical ways to research and come up

with ideas to solve it. Here in Ontario we have many excellent

universities and colleges with equally excellent students who are taking

courses in the political sciences. If the government were to cooperate

with these universities and colleges and have them work in conjunction with

the current research groups, then the answer to decrease the homeless

population would be effectively answered. The government would encounter

little expense and at the same time give the students a chance to implement

what they are learning into real life situations. Everyone benefits from

this idea and there are no losers.

In conclusion I think that our homeless problem could eventually be

rooted out entirely if everyone were to take part in the care of their

fellow neighbour. If we were to stop being self-centered and start

thinking about the other person who has less than us, I am sure that we

would benefit from it. It isn’t all that hard. A few advertisements on

the television and radio, a little push from our society’s leaders and we

would be off on the right track. That worked for the recycling program.

Now we should try employing this idea for even better reasons. I doubt that

I will be around to see this idea in use all around the world, but I do

hope that I can one day see it used here in Toronto. To assist all the

homeless here in Toronto would be a very nice thing to see. The best part

of it all would be to know that we, as a society, would be able to work

together despite all the barriers created by racism and our naive nature

when it comes to other heritages.