The "Worst Street" in North America

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I was going to reply earlier but couldn't think of anything to say.
I have been around those types of people in the UK. They seem ok when you have superficial interactions with them, like on that video. But the hostels and halfway houses are terrible places to live.

I'm just thankful I'm not into drugs as it seems to be a personality trait that you're born with or not.
But my life isn't too good anyway,as autism is so bad.
I hope it doesn't become popular, walking around those places for a dare, then starting to trust the people there became they seem friendly at first meeting

More and more people are avoiding the area because of headline news about random stranger attacks w/ weapons every now and then on the rise. There are legit some very psychotic people on crazy drugs wandering around with weapons at times. Then there's all the stuff that happens that never makes the news at all.

So, fewer locals and tourists are going near the area due to it's reputation.. but, IMO, that's just going to compound various problems there. I don't think it's going to increase violence much or anything, but the more working class normal people avoid the area, the less positive influence people in regular normal society can have on the folks in that area and the more they're isolated in their lives of despair.

I mean, it's not ALL bad there. There is a vibrant sense of community and all that.. buuuut, the total hell hole part is not going to heal whatsoever without outsiders helping raise the frequency of the place.. but I can understand why people who don't live or work there wouldn't want to go hangout there. Catch 22 and I bet things continue to spiral out of control there and get progressively worse under this new City Mayor just as they have under the Mayors of the last few decades who've all said they wanted to improve the area. Very difficult problems to solve or they'd be solved.

Right now at this moment the city has one side of the block shut down clearing tents on the sidewalk and then plans to do the other side of that couple blocks right after.

Apparently people are being offered/told to go to homeless shelters, and some people in shelters are being moved to some sort of housing/SRO. They have to accept shelter space before getting on a housing waitlist I guess.

But the thing is that many in tents choose it because it’s safer and cleaner than homeless shelters or some of the SRO hotels. Others camp when there are no spaces anywhere.

I get that the city wants people out of sight out of mind so they don’t spook tourists or rich people, but I don’t think this is going to be the last of any tent cities on/near that block.. they will rebuild. If not there, they’ll take over another large park again and setup another protest camp. Or a vacant lot. Or both and so on.

New Mayor, new actions.. but shuffling people along without actual solutions (housing) isn’t going to solve the problem - it’s just going to move it slightly. And possibly also cause a spike in tent thefts from retail stores.

HMM

Depends, the homeless shelters can be the safe-ish place if they have strict rules and 24 hour staff. If not, it's very unsafe,as are the hotels I can imagine.

I suppose there is a reason, but I'm confused as to why the homeless shelters are usually near the city centre. Cos that allows them to be close to good begging spots... which just propagates their addictions.

Even with staff there they are not all safe places. Can’t restrain people and if they’re psychotic or thieves etc what ya gonna do?

1. Not all homeless people are addicts.

2. Many are near city centres because that’s where people need to be to access a wide range of services. Harm reduction, detox, treatment, medical/health/mental health services, charities, food, clothing, laundry, showers, medicine, work programs, job training, temp agencies, government/non profit housing advocates and agencies, welfare office, bank/cheque cashing etc etc.

Think you’re gonna put a homeless shelter 10’s of miles out of town and then these people are just going to hop in their cars and drive around to all the various serves they need to stay alive or try to better their situation?

Yeah In Canada I presume people are made homeless because they lose a job and stuff like that.
So what you're saying makes sense.

Some shelters won’t take pets so people that love their animals will live in a tent or sleep rough.

Various reasons. Job loss, addiction, car/work accidents, or maybe just eviction/demolition of their prior home these days - people getting illegally evicted all the time just so the landlord can significantly raise the rent with a new tenant.

NOW it makes sense why the city cleared the tents from Hastings street a couple days ago. Prime Minister Justin is in town a couple blocks away in Chinatown for Chinese New Year celebrations and they gotta shuffle the homelessness problem out of sight when the world is watching.

Maybe he's been PM for too long. Time Jagmeet got his turn.

I voted for Jagmeet last time around.

Friend's moving again already. Just messaged me now.

His room was broken into, sink destroyed - no longer has water. Anything he had stolen. (he did not have much. Like lived out of a large backpack.) Music blasted at his door all night and he can hear the "inmates," plotting to get him out of there. And they destroyed his door.

They might just be jealous that he was given part time work by the building owner or something (repairs/maintenance) as pretty much anything can set some of these animals off. Almost gotta go into a place like that and be the scariest mofo there so you don't get eaten alive. Crazy - prison like mentality.. like where they stick the mentally ill inmates.

So, not sure if someone told him about it via friends or if he found the deal himself but he just bought a boat that he can live aboard with every penny he has. Saw a couple pics - cozy little wood interior, bed, wood stove for heat, gas stove, kitchen sink - looks WAY BETTER than the SRO room. Diesel engine doesn't run, comes with moorage where it's docked in exchange for doing maintenance work for the marina. THAT is right up his alley. Peaceful warm dry shelter, too, with some labour exchanged in lieu of rent. Said he paid just under a grand for it.

Helping another friend move a small couch midday tmw, so since I'll be right there we'll move his new mattress out of that place and over to the boat as well.

I moved a small couch to a friend's place literally right across from the street from The Grand Union in a recently renovated building yesterday. 700 something sf 1 bedroom with a balcony. The "bedroom," area doesn't even have proper walls - it's sliding glass partitions and the area is so tight the bed presses against the glass if they shut it. Rent at The Grand Union SRO hotel across the street is I dunno, $600-800? (It was $400-600 in 2017 so I'm assuming it's gone up even if the building has gotten worse and it Should be $373 -> the welfare rate for shelter) and the 1 bed place right across the street is $2065/mo. That's on the cheap side for a renovated 1 bedroom in the city where average rent for a 1 bedroom apartment is now $2663. Crazy that it could be over $2K directly across the street from literal horror. (and apparently The Grand Union is one of the nicest SRO's!)

This place is nuts. Both the city and it's rent prices And the DTES neighbourhood in general lol

Article with community members responding to the federal conservative leader calling the DTES Hell on Earth. (Because small amounts of drugs have been decriminalized.)

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/202 ... o-see.html

All true stuff. It’s rough, but it IS a community and there are people doing their best to help each other heal.

You just brought back one of my nightmares of Filthydelphis, the city of brotherly shoveitupyerf!ckinga$$.: Kensington and Allegheny (better known as K and A).

As if living in Northeast Philly (by the main campus of Frankford Hospital) was bad enough!

/\When I visited my daughter in SF , Cali she asked if I wanted to see the Tenderloin district .I said no.I’d feel depressed for days.I also vetoed Alcatraz.
Saw the beach , Golden Gate Bridge, and botanical gardens instead.