Dear Editor
When Mayor Derek Corrigan says that shelters “don’t do anything,” he neglects to acknowledge how cold it has been. As with harm reduction, where society tries to keep addicts alive long enough to recover, so we need to keep homeless people alive and healthy long enough to change their lifestyle. People can change their lot in life.
Burnaby can provide land for shelters for the homeless. We need to stop this dysfunctional and oppositional relationship with the provincial government and get some things done. We need all three levels of government to work together.
And for our mayor to take a cheap shot at a non-profit like Lookout, which does amazing work providing short- and long-term housing, is counter-productive.
Finally, the mayor says that we must “start seriously addressing the fundamental issues of poverty.”
One way to start is for Burnaby to join with neighbouring cities and adopt a living wage policy. A living wage is a good poverty-reduction tool. Then low-income working people might be able to afford housing. They might not have to work two jobs and be able to spend time with their families.
Of course we need stable housing, policy action on poverty reduction and for people to have fruitful employment. But for now we need shelters, too.
Mae Burrows, Burnaby
