So I used to have this nice little parkette that I would see on my walk to work. It used to be filled with little camps of unhoused people. I say “unhoused” instead of “homeless” because while they were there, in this modest encampment, it didn’t appear like they were without a home in the romantic notion of the term. They all seemed to know each other, and you would often see them gather to socialize. It was actually quite heartwarming for me to see these people making the most of their challenging (and often dehumanizing) circumstances. And now it’s all gone.

I noticed some weeks later that the parkette was completely fenced off by the city. No one was allowed in. All of the tents and people were gone. The lights remained, illuminating nothing but the vacancy of the place. It was now a ghost town. Some time later they would eventually open up a small section of the path for people to walk through, but the areas where all of the tents had been remained fenced off to the world. The last I checked, they still were.

The more discerning reader might guess at the motivations for this. Of course, it was to keep people from living there. Instead, they might he shuffled into already crowded shelters, if there was space. Violence, I’m told, is a norm there. That, or they can go somewhere else where maybe they’re less visible, and if you ask me that was precisely the point.

Nearby, there is a mission church, or social service if you prefer, that does a lot of work with our city’s nomadic population. They’ll do meals, make harm reduction kits, give some people a place to shower or rest, and accept all manner of donations that might help people get settled if in fact they are able to find a place. And word on the street is they’re being sued by a condo building nearby. They’re not too happy to have homeless people congregate in the same area as their paying customers. Which makes sense when you think about it. It’s uncomfortable to look at. Many of these people are a little rough around the edges, and where their problems intersect, many of them will fall through the cracks of our poorly funded social services.

But I’m of the opinion that you should have to look at them. Be uncomfortable. And if you are truly uncomfortable, take a moment to think about why that is. Do you feel unsafe? How do you imagine they feel!? Do you feel guilty? Maybe you should. At least for those who can afford those condos, you’ve got to be pretty privileged. And that’s fine, if you are. But you should realize that your privilege has a hidden price, and this is it. Are you truly comfortable to pay for it?