Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps stirred up controversy when she suggested people consider opening their homes to strangers as one way to alleviate homelessness. The torrent of vitriol, anger and ridicule directed at her was undeserved — it’s a sensible and compassionate proposal.
Last week, she wrote on her blog that during the 1940s, local newspaper headlines “urged Victorians to open their homes and ‘billet homeless war workers.’ Victorians responded to the crisis and opened their homes to strangers recently relocated to Victoria to help the local war effort. They didn’t call it the ‘sharing economy,’ they didn’t charge anything, they just opened up their spare bedrooms and invited strangers in.
“Now we have a different crisis on our doorstep. For 30 years … there were no new purpose-built rental buildings built in Victoria. And, in the last five years, nearly 6,000 people have moved into the city. We’re facing a rental crisis.
“What if Victorians responded in the same way to this crisis? What if there was a way to connect people living in vehicles, in motel rooms, on couches, with seniors living in large houses all alone, with retirees with an extra bedroom, or even with families with large houses and extra rooms. Unthinkable? Victorians stepped up to help out their neighbours in the past.”
Reading some of the reactions, you could be excused for thinking Helps was advocating opening doors of private homes to rampaging hordes of criminals and drug addicts. But she was simply suggesting exploring the idea, and called for a focus group comprising three people who might be interested in opening their homes and three people living in their cars or couch-surfing.
The reaction to the mayor’s proposal has not been all negative — many have responded with support for the concept, and she has found volunteers for her focus group.
Some homeless people are afflicted with mental illness, addictions or both, and most homeowners would be understandably reluctant to take in such people. In any case, those troubled people need a different level of shelter and care than most ordinary homeowners could provide.
And there among the homeless some unsavoury characters whose lifestyle choices would not make them good candidates for billeting in private homes.
But those are just a few of the thousand faces of homelessness. Greater Victoria’s high real-estate prices and tight rental market have forced many people to live in their cars, on friends’ couches, in tents or on the streets. Some are students; many have jobs. For many, a safe place to sleep is a huge step toward standing on their own feet.
And we have the room. The region has multi-bedroom homes housing one person. It has houses and condos with absentee owners who leave the premises unoccupied for much of the year. Many people have unused rooms in their homes.
No one is suggesting a homeowner take in someone without first getting acquainted with the potential boarder to see if the arrangement is a good fit. It would be only reasonable to set certain conditions that both parties could accept.
Helps is not for a moment suggesting billeting as an overall cure for homelessness. A problem with many causes requires many remedies — this is just one possible solution, one that comes at little or no cost.
The mayor should be congratulated, not excoriated, for suggesting a sensible way to help our neighbours.
