Homelessness and Panhandling in Toronto

[dt_toronto_geek]

In my 20 years of walking around downtown TO, i find this very very very hard to believe. The only times i have seen people verbally assaulted is when they make some smartass remark to the beggars

For nearly 20 years that I've had my two Labrador Retrievers I walk them about 3 hours every day (unless it's pouring rain all day) from mid-March to mid-November throughout downtown roughly bordered by Bloor to the north, Lake Ontario to the south, The Don River to the east and Bathurst to the west. With a handful of exceptions in all those years (along with walking to and from work and various other destinations by day and night) I can unequivocally state that young panhandlers (any aged panhandlers for that matter) do not verbally assault people such as is suggested above. It's simply not true.

 

[Johnzz]

I can unequivocally state that young panhandlers (any aged panhandlers for that matter) do not verbally assault people such as is suggested above.

Perhaps you don’t fit the profile who normally gives money. We were certainly “preyed†upon the few days there.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Toronto. It’s just that my wife has now refused to return with our children.

I suppose it’s all relative. I’m comparing the panhandling problem in Toronto with cities like London, Paris, Brussels Sidney, Auckland and New York. If you’re used to it, you probably don’t notice it as much.

 

[simply Dan]

Don’t get me wrong, I love Toronto. It’s just that my wife has now refused to return with our children.

I guess you better stay away from Vancouver or Montreal then... we're very fortunate in Toronto when it comes to numbers of beggars and homeless people when compared with other large Canadian cities.

 

[tkip]

What?

Hold on a minute.

Did a group of panhandlers terrorize the wife and kids and this is why she refuses to bring them back to Toronto? Are we to believe that someone was so traumatized by seeing people in the streets asking for change that they ran screaming out of the city? Was she attacked or something? Did the panhandlers attempt to take the kids?

Why is the wife so freaked out about dealing with panhandlers in Toronto? I must have missed something while reading the last few responses..

 

[toraerach]

I guess you better stay away from Vancouver or Montreal then... we're very fortunate in Toronto when it comes to numbers of beggars and homeless people when compared with other large Canadian cities.

Not even just large Canadian cities. Homelessness is a province/country-wide problem and their are certainly many smaller cities that have too many homeless people (too many in the sense that they should be housed, not that I want to lock them all up).

I've lived in downtown Peterborough for the past four years. Apparently we're the "Homeless Capital of Ontario," and I'd believe it. It's a very rare day where I'm not asked for change. What I've seen since moving here would indicate that homeless people suffer far more abuse from passers-by than vice-versa. There have been at least three occasions where I've seen someone physically attack a panhandler, I have never seen or even heard of the reverse occurring here.

My great aunt ended up on the streets after suffering from schizophrenia and the heroin addiction she tried to medicate it with. No one deserves that kind of life, and no one deserves to be locked up for asking for some spare change when the rest of society has turned its back on them.

 

[tkip]

Indeed....

While I don't actually believe the majority of people want to see people on the street asking for change to be thrown in jail, let's face it, there is little doubt that most want to have no contact with the homeless and see them as being more of a public nuisance than anything else.

 

[kettal]

This should be addressed as a national problem, because that's what it is.

 

[tkip]

Yes.....

This should be addressed as a national problem, because that's what it is.

Absolutely right on this topic.

This is a national concern and the federal government should be taking the lead and coordinating with the provinces on trying to resolve this problem. Never going to happen though. I just think there is no real polictical will and there seems to be this industry around employing people to deal with the issue without actually solving the problem.

Come to think of it, this might also explain our approach to a host of other problems where we just throw resources at it without ever trying to fix things. I've heard this being discussed on shows and with friends and there seems to be a certain logic to it.

Something to think about it.

You know, I use to be against conspiracy theories but the more I pay closer attention..... Like the invention of the nuclear family because it weakens families and thus communities and thereby you divide and conquer and the powers that be go on with their agendas.

I had this debate tonight with a lady who hates the immigrant family down her street because they have their entire family living there and zoning by-laws only permit single dwellings to house parents and their kids.

She wants the extended family kicked out.

I mentioned about uncles, aunts, granparents also sharing the home and she was against this because the law says single dwelling homes only recognized parents and kids being able to live there and that was fine with her. No extended family.

I also mentioned about growing up in the upper beaches, where it was predominantly white and numerous people renting out basements and having relatives living with them but again, she refused to believe this or recognize that family living with family isn't a crime against nature.

Only in north america do we condenm this as being unnatural and strive to marginalized people for wanting to include their extended family with the rearing of children and sharing of resouces.

Not sure what her plans are if her parents become ill but this probably wouldn't matter since we have this tradition of throwing people into nursing homes and trying our best to forget them.

When I mentioned my mother growing up on the farm with uncles, aunts, cousins sharing the grounds and land, she dismissed this outright. Overcrowding concerns I can understand. I doubt this was the real motivation for her anger though. It's race related.

Anyway. I went waaaaaaaaaaaay off topic here. Sorry.....

 

[Roy G Biv]

My great aunt ended up on the streets after suffering from schizophrenia and the heroin addiction she tried to medicate it with. No one deserves that kind of life, and no one deserves to be locked up for asking for some spare change when the rest of society has turned its back on them.

I feel ebmarassed when I escort tourists past a pan-handler because it looks bad on us, as a city, because we do not "take care" of our own. But if "taking care" of our own means rounding them up into insane asylums or jails, I guess I should feel some pride....

 

[gabe]

I find the religious solicitors like Nation of Islam, Black History and jehovah's witnesses wackos far more annoying and aggressive than the pan handlers.

 

[kettal]

At least those guys stay kept at the Yonge and Dundas intersection

 

[tkip]

Mental illness.....

In the area where I work, the Dundas and Bathurst area, there is a heavy concentration of people wandering the streets panhandling and they even come into where I work. It's obvious with some of them that there are issues of mental illness going on. The rest seem to be drug users. It's just depressing some days being down there.

 

[Jonny5]

I find the religious solicitors like Nation of Islam, Black History and jehovah's witnesses wackos far more annoying and aggressive than the pan handlers.

Don't get me started on the "charity panhandlers", who now cover every corner and are from agency I knew and did not know existed.

Today a man from "Save the Children" asked as I passed him "Hey bro, can I talk to you for a minute?".

I'm not your bro.

Also, wasn't "Save the Children" the name of the cocaine doll traffiking front in the movie "Traffic"?

 

[buildup]

I can't stand panhandlers who feel entilted to get dressed up as Santa Claus. I've seen about three Santas this year and they have all been panhandlers. One, parked about the LCBO, even had his motorized wheelchair painted red.
I dont know what's worse, the old fat panhandlers with grey hair who really get into it, or the younger ones who just don the jolly red cap.
As far as I'm concerned "Santa" is now smelly, flea-ridden and boozy. Sad for the kids.

 

[AnnetteMeetsJane]

There is a charitable organisation called Save the Children. They have a small presence in Toronto though... The international office is in London where the charaty was founded, with seperate national organisations in a bunch of countries... Each national organisation runs projects in their own country, and as an international alliance they work in and lobby for developing countries.
AmJ