Ways one can help.

A couple things that people can do to help the homeless are just simply acknowledging them and not treating them like they are in invisible or not a person. Donating is something that people can do also, not just money but taking them out to eat or simply giving them some old clothes. Volunteering is another thing that people can do especially volunteering at an outreach program. Another major way people can help us if they own a business they can hire homeless people and give them a solid income. One of the last ways people can help the homeless is by reaching out to them and inviting to their church or worship place to give them a sense of meaning.

Pros and Cons of Shelters.

There are roughly 75 homeless shelters within the GTA including Toronto. Shelters will most often provide the homeless with a bed to sleep in and possibly a meal or two. They do not stay open 24 hours as it is not a place that they want people to live in. In most cases they close in the morning and kick everyone out, and then reopen their doors in the evening where people can come in hopes of there being an available bed to sleep in. These shelters are not always as amazing as they seem from the outside. Many times they sleep in cramped condition with only a few toilets to share amongst a few hundred people toppled with less than sustainable food. A article from the Toronto Star  gives some more insight into what some of the homeless shelters look like (https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/01/21/we-are-housing-people-in-places-that-are-not-shelters.html). The difficulty with the shelters is that they are underfunded, understaffed, and unsupervised, but not all is lost, donations can help as some shelters are in need to updated beds and kitchen appliances. The greatest thing that anyone can offer a homeless shelter is their time, shelters are always looking for volunteers to assist in many different types of jobs.

Mental Illness.

Poverty has life changing effects, some experience loneliness and spiral into depression, some have literally no money, and resort to living on the streets. This can shred people of their dignity and develop insecurities based on their economic status. Not only that but without any money the self care aspect of life is non-existent, ranging from personal hygiene to general fun. Life isn't life without fun, the experience and joy of life is what's being taken away from them as well. Mental illness can be severely affected when living in poverty and takes a extensive amount of time to climb out of.

Being Trapped in Poverty.

One in seven people in Canada live within poverty, this means that if you were to look at your circle of friends and family at least one person is barely surviving. Despite poverty being all around us there seems to be no one talking about it. Poverty is defined as a state of being extremely poor, but more specifically, financially poor. Being in poverty does not necessarily mean that someone is homeless, but many times extended poverty can lead to homelessness, and this is where the staggering homeless problem comes in as people become trapped in their homelessness. Once someone becomes homeless, finding their way out is comparable to attempting to win the lottery, for luck can be a crucial factor. Once homeless, employers will scarcely hire you, having no address means that contacting you can become very difficult, and last but certainly not least the stigma surrounding the homeless population in regards to disapproving and hateful attitudes is intoxicating. The first step to helping the homeless has nothing to do with any one act of giving, but rather to change the public’s mindset as this will start a chain of events that will lead to more people wanting to get involved and help out.

The Yellow Brick House.

The Yellow Brick House, a homeless shelter for women and children, is one out of three hundred ten homeless shelters in the province.  In 2018 a census shows that under half a million Canadian households with mortgages spend over 50 percent of their income on mortgage payments, making it difficult to live in a household. However, The Yellow Brick house has achieved housing 234 women and 132 children last year alone, with counselling offered to both the women and children. Fortunately, they also have an education program with York Region to ensure that children in the shelters are still able to go to school, they have given 4,095 students a chance to go to a school in York Region.  With two Yellow Brick House shelter giving their service to the community, they have been able to help over 5,000 women in children that need help with finding shelter, counselling and education.