Thursday, May 15, 2008

A Report On Panhandling From The Streets Not Silly Hall

Panhandling’s labyrinth
To get people to stop begging, city resorts to begging of its own

The front door of this apartment building on the downtown east side is unlocked. In the foyer, a breeze blows through a window propped up with a beer bottle and moves dust amid broken glass and plastic bags.

Down the hallway, we pass walls covered with half-finished thoughts in black marker, and at the end, a puddle of water. And more glass.

Street Health’s Gaetan Heroux turns to me. “So, are people housed, Mike?” In this building lives a tenant who is a beneficiary of the city’s Streets To Homes project.

When I visited the supported rooming house where Robert Maurice lived before dying on the street, I was amazed that anyone could share a room as small as his – but that place was clean, well maintained. This, well, my first thought is that if I were good at living on the street I might prefer that.

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