I suggest you visit other major cities and see how they deal with their drug issue. Nobody come close to what we do here in Vancouver. So much so that people travel from around Canada just to live on the streets here. I have personally spent 3 hours the other day trying to find a new tenant at our SRO. the first 20+ people turned it down as they were comfortable were they are (the street). Everyone's situation is different. Just to be the Devil's advocate here, there are hundreds of individuals that do not belong walking freely in our society. If you knew the crimes some of these "poor people" committed you might freak. I was shouted at today by a convicted rapist/murderer in my office. Do you know why? He was mad that we took away his computer (free) for frequently threatening to murder his neighbour. Cops won't do shit. Yet for some reason we are just supposed to be compassionate to ever situation. We need to be flexible, we need to have the strength to stand up to violent criminals instead of pandering to their feelings. Soft people are what is making this worse.

I suggest all you people that claim to care so much take these people into your home with some financial support from the Govt for food and other things....put your money where your mouth is.

Took the words out of my mouth. I’ve been an SRW in the DTE for 15 years now. People have no idea what entitlement we have to put up with. Abused, while we give them 3 meals , snacks, do their laundry, clean their rooms and give them their precious tv time. And many people in the shelters and the tenants we house were at Riverview, and they liked it. They felt safe and they had a regime, which many need. Op, you have no clue.

My sister and mother worked at two of those care facilities that were shut down in the 80s. They treated severely mentally handicapped people, some of whom were prone to violence who could not live on their own and who's families were not equipped to deal with them. They also treated alzheimers patients, prone to wandering and violence who's families could not cope with them. There were severe schizophrenics who required constant attention to make sure they took their meds. People in these places received care and compassion, they were not prisoners held against their will. Facilities like Riverview were not shut down because they didn't work, they were shut down, like a lot of beneficial programs, because of government cost cutting and lack of compassion. A lot of people ended up on the street because of it, I don't see this as an improvement.

It's not jail in significant ways - there is not the stigma of criminal conviction, and you are releasable whenever you have demonstrable ability to self-care. I think that if you're regularly overdosing on Fentanyl in the alley behind Abbott Street that your decision making process is fundamentally broken. It's not necessarily your fault, or a crime, but you are going to die. Should you be allowed to die in the street? I don't think we want that either.

People forget it was the NDP that started defunding and closing beds at Riverview in the 1990's.

Thank you!
I wanted to mention that it was Gordo and company who contributed to shutting down Riverview and other public safety nets.

it was kicking everyone out of the SROs on Hastings to rent to tourists for EXPO in 86 that REALLY started it. get your facts straight

Most of the problem is fetal alcohol syndrome, intergenerationally. Also alcoholism in parents that have normal neurodevelopment, the alcohol fucks it up. Most people in the DTES are developmentally disabled, have developmentally disabled parents, or were in foster care due to alcohol and/or developmentally disabled parents.

Demon Rum is the problem.

You just didn't see this sort of degeneracy until distillation became a big thing.

Nobody will touch it tho, the Crown has been for hundreds of years,basically, a Gang of Thieves who collect an excise on alcohol, in order to fund a police state for dealing with violent alcoholics and people w/ FAS who don't have normal forebrain development.