INSIDE
INSIDE
A look back at the year at Lakeland
Arts community ready for busy weekend
INSIDE Recruiting is an international endeavour Thursday, June 11, 2015
Volume 10 Issue 79
Fighting homelessness in rural Alberta by Jaime Polmateer jaime@lloydminstersource.com
When many people hear the word “homelessness” it may bring to mind people curled up on sidewalks, stretched out on a park bench or perhaps living in a makeshift shanty in a back alley. Though situations like these are real, it’s not seen as much in the rural areas of Alberta. Doug Griffiths, former MLA of Battle River-Wainwright and co-author of 13 Ways to Kill Your Community, would like to broaden the public’s idea of what homelessness is and show them that it’s a problem not just in urban centres, but all throughout the province. “It’s actually quite common in rural Alberta, but you wind up with people who end up on friends’ couches, they move back into their parent’s place or they’re living with their aunts and uncles,” said Griffiths. “It takes on a different form, so most people don’t think there’s a problem with homelessness because they don’t see the people on the park bench or curled up on main street. But in reality, homelessness is just as common in rural Alberta as it is in the cities.” He says because Alberta is known for having a low unemployment rate and good paying jobs, that many figure there is little concern for homelessness being an issue. Griffiths thinks this is not the case and that instead the rising economy has created a lot of what he calls the “working poor.” These are people who are employed, but stay with neighbours, relatives
or friends because they can’t afford a place of their own. These aren’t just young people, but also grown adults, who, because the general wealth of the province and resulting rise in housing costs, can’t meet up with rents or mortgages because they simply aren’t making as much money as the majority of citizens. “It leaves them homeless,” said Griffiths. “If a person can’t find a home in your community that suits their needs, that’s a situation a community needs to address too and that’s another form of homelessness. “If the seniors can’t find appropriate housing because they don’t want a giant house with a three-car garage and eight bedrooms, they’re looking for senior-appropriate housing and they can’t find it. They wind up moving to Camrose or to Warman, Sask. or they move to Phoenix, Ariz. They’re still homeless, that’s why they had to leave your community.” Griffiths says this form of homelessness, where there is a lack of appropriate housing for a given demographic, hurts communities because people are forced to move to a town that can accommodate their needs. He said housing is central in building a strong community and encourages people to think of not just homelessness, but housing in general. Leaders need to assess whether or not their community is addressing housing needs across the board because if they aren’t, residents will trickle out, which will hurt the local economy. See “Homelessness,” Page 14
www.lloydminstersource.com
Celebrating culture
Alex Chippin Photo
Students at Winston Churchill School rotated from classroom to classroom as they learned about different countries and cultures, including Finland, Mexico, Judaism and First Nations during Culture Day on June 9. Later, the students performed cultural plays and dances.