Housing Part Four: Barriers to Safe Housing

So now that I’ve written about kinds of housing, reason people need housing, and what safe housing looks like, it’s only fitting to consider some of the barriers to safe housing.  Why, in an industrialized nation such as Canada doesn’t everyone have safe housing?? 

Numbers

The fact is, where I live, there number of people in need of safe housing simply outweigh the number of units available.  I live in a city with an extremely low vacancy rate, and that rate is spread through all levels of housing.  If we were to measure the number of people living in substandard, crowded and unsafe housing and compare it to the current vacancy rate the difference would be staggering.  There just isn’t enough housing. 

Money

When you rent an apartment, there is more to think about then just the cost of rent.  There’s also the damage deposit, and this is a big one.  Almost always, no damage deposit means no rental, and in some cases you are expected to put down first and last month’s rent as well.  This can be simply unreachable for people living on fixed incomes, and since you don’t get your last damage deposit back till you move out… Oh, and did I mention that it is impossible to rent an apartment one what our social assistance system pays for a single persons rent, let alone a safe one? 

Poor Rental History/Bad References

Once you develop a spotty rental history, it’s really hard to get away from it.  I actually had a client turned down as soon as the caretaker saw his name, he’d heard rumors about him in the area and wasn’t willing to risk it.  For someone trying to turn their life around, it can be really frustrating to get shot down for this reason.  Of course, looking at the landlord’s perspective, why risk it! 

Disability

When you have a disability, including mental health concerns, finding housing becomes even harder.  How do you find a place, which meets your unique needs, often on a fixed income?  With such a low vacancy rate, even less are assessable, and even less of those are affordable. 

Literacy/Language

Another barrier to finding safe housing is literacy and language.  What if you can’t read or speak English.  How do you go through ads, answer and ask questions etc… if you can’t follow the language.  Immigrants often have a very difficult time finding housing and often have little money, which adds to the problem. 

Discrimination

I’d love to say that I live in a country where no one cares about the colour of a person’s skin, or the fact that two men are renting a one-bedroom apartment.  But I don’t.  And the truth is, there are some groups of people who are going to be able to find housing a lot more easily then others.  For example, it took me a total of two apartment visits to find one I wanted this time.  And I got it.  Actually, I got both; it’s just that I only needed one, so I chose the one that best suited my needs.  Of course, I’m a white professional, and that does matter, even though it shouldn’t. 

 

this was going to be happy

I have many happy things I want to post about. I really do. But right now, I'm in a bad mood. A black cloud has hung over my head all day. I didn't get the full time job I wanted at work, so I'm still stuck on random crappy shifts. I have no sense of permanency and still get all the stupid jobs. I get the "next position", so who knows when that'll be. And my boss told me right at the beginning of my shift, so I had to work the rest of the day pretending I wasn't frustrated and upset. But, I sure didn't stay for overtime today.

This silly girl worked another double shift yesterday. 3:30pm-8:00AM baby!

Yeah. So basically, they'd better higher me for the full time nights job I applied for because the only reason I am doing this is so that I will look good for that job.

I slept all day today, which was absolutely awesome and amazing. And I am quite pleased with myself. I will also sleep tonight. I just have to get some food in my system so I don't wake up all shaky in the morning. And, I gave away tomorrow's night shift, so I get all day tomorrow off too! Yay!

I'm watching myself though. No more doubles for at least a week. I need to take care of myself. While I am able to sleep it off, it leaves me tired for a couple days, and I need to make sure I don't do too much afterwards.

I really like what I do, I really like where I work, but there are changes that have to be made. Even I can see that, and I'm brand new (which is maybe why I see some of that). There is no way that a shift should be down two people on a regular basis, even after calling your reliefs. It just shouldn't happen. That's why I did that double. Even with me, they were short staffed. Which is hard for everyone.

stuff

We have a new, or well the first, HR person at work. He just started on Tuesday. I'm not sure what to think... he came and talked to my co worker and I today and asked us awkward questions. I mean, I totally understand why he needed to ask them, but still, it's hard to know what to say, and what'll be kept confidential, and what'll get back and get blown up in your face.

The usual stuff came up though. Poor communication between shifts, poor communication with management, disrespect between staff, yada yada. I mean really, what can you say? It was still interesting though. I suggested that he spend time hanging out and watching each shift. I really don't think you can get a good understanding of the work dynamics unless you do that. Especially cause each of the shifts really has it's own personality.

First Day of Training

My orientation went well enough yesterday...kind of boring, lots of PHIA stuff I already knew. I started training today. Seriously, whose idea was it to start shift at 7:30. I realize that's common, but argh, I am just so not good with mornings. Tomorrow I'm on evenings and the back on days for Saturday. We'll see how things go I guess.

I spent all of today in the Intoxicated Persons Detention Area (IPDA) aka the city's "drunk tank". IPDA was...interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It raises some ethical issues for me in a way, but not. I understand the reason for it and seeing the people that were brought in today I totally understand the way it is the way it is. It is just hard to see in someways.

Basically my role in IPDA is to process intakes and discharges and make sure no one dies. The intake process is far too complex and sure there are many ways it could be made more efficient, but alas, who has time for that? This is generally how it works, except when we get behind.

1. The police or downtown watch (BIZ) bring in an intoxicated person picked up for causing a disturbance or being a danger to self/others (ie blindly stumbling across the road). They bring this person to us.

2. While the officers strip the person of all possessions and everything but one layer of clothes, I try to establish their name, medical conditions, medications and current intoxicant. Sometimes this is aided by police or they're frequent customers. Once I have their name I can search them in the data base and get some of the medical stuff as well.

3. I choose a cell. Some have cameras and some don't. We save the cameras for people with seizures, other severe medical issues or who are especially upset or combative. The officers pat down the client and make sure they have nothing, and then escort them to the cell which automatically locks.

4. I make an itemized list of all their possessions and count the money etc... we make note of every last scrap of paper "personal papers". I also get the details of the incident, where they were picked up, the unit numbers of the officers and the incident number. Then the officers have to sign off. They get a receipt for the client they brought in.

5. I fill out the rest of this form which indicates all the medical details, birthday, condition on arrival etc... Then I enter it all into the computer as well.

6. I fill out a form for "punches" (not nearly as physical as it sounds).

7. Then I fill out the log which basically repeats information I've already put in two or three places. There is nothing new on it.

8. Then I add the client to my cell map so I know what time they were in and who is where so I can easily tell the officers where to put new people.

9. Somewhere in this process I store the clients stuff in a locker which corresponds to their cell number. Rubber gloves and plastic bags are of the essence. If they have more then 20$ I have to do another whole form and get the shift coordinator to sign it. The money goes in an envelope in the safe.

And that, is intake.

Now while this is all going on, I also have to be doing "punches". We have a time clock at the very back and we have to turn the key every 15 minutes. We also have to check and make sure every person is breathing. We look for chest movement or listen for breathing through the window...it's not as hard as I thought it would be. Then we have to fill in their form with whether they're awake or sleeping, if there's any movement and our employee number. Every two hours we have to wake them up...bang on the door, shout, whatever it takes.

And lastly, we have to keep discharging people when they sober up. The minimum stay is 4 hours and the max is 24. Most people are in for 8 or less. It can depend what they're on though, and today we had a guy in for 12 cause he kept refusing to go...he wanted to sleep! To discharge them we just talk to them, ask them a few questions, try and figure out if they're sober enough to go. Then we have to walk them out, offer them a phone call, get them to sign a form (two if its night time) and then give them their stuff back. Then we have to fill out a bunch more paperwork in five places. PLUS a cleaning sheet.

After a person leaves, we have to clean, although it's good to let it air out for a while... Then we have to mop, refill the toilet paper, scrub the mat and prop the door open to air. And then of course, fill out some more paperwork! But, don't get too caught up in cleaning, or you'll forget to do punches! I need to buy a watch w/ timer asap, and some closed toed crocs.

So that was my first day. I had a great trainer who was easy to talk to so things weren't awkward there. I got free lunch, gotta love donations. And I got PAID! Such a differences from paying to do practicum.

Tomorrow is job interview at the church, meeting with my best friend and then working 3:30-midnight...so we'll see how things go!