Can you spare $2.5 million?
Proposal calls for hiring 48 more street workers to help -- not eliminate -- Toronto's panhandlers
By SUE-ANN LEVY
After spending nearly a year studying Toronto's pesky street begging issue, officials at Socialist Silly Hall have concluded more scarce city money must be spent to address the "needs" of people who panhandle.
In an almost absurd 50-page report to tomorrow's executive committee, the city's homeless bureaucrats propose that instead of putting in place an anti-panhandling bylaw (as they are able to do under the City of Toronto Act), $2.5 million and a new team of 48 street workers be added immediately to their Streets to Homes fiefdom to assist those who panhandle to get services, housing (if they need it) and "where possible" employment.
That amount is on top of the $8.7 million already being spent this year on the Streets to Homes program, which officials boast has been responsible for housing 1,600 homeless people since 2005. Officials propose that the funding top-up increase by $4.9 million next year.
The bulk of the money, it would seem, will be spent on two mobile teams who will provide a "social service response" seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. to legal panhandlers plying their trade both in the downtown core (from Yorkville down to Lake Ontario) and in other parts of the city.
"We are taking the successful Streets to Homes program to the next level," Phil Brown, general manager of shelter, support and housing told me last week. "We are investing more to make sure we end street homelessness and the number of people who need to panhandle."
Asked what they mean by "legal" panhandlers, he said those are people pursuing any begging actions not defined as illegal and a police matter under the Safe Streets Act -- for instance begging in front of ATMs or in the middle of the road.
I wondered if obstructing the sidewalk or blocking the doorway of a doughnut shop while panhandling was considered legal or illegal. "I think it's legal," Brown said.
In fact the report suggests at least eight managers of businesses in the downtown core described beggars who opened doors for their customers as "service providers" rather than panhandlers. "The business community is very supportive of the social service approach," Brown added.
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Levy_Sue-Ann/2008/05/04/pf-5466986.html
Proposal calls for hiring 48 more street workers to help -- not eliminate -- Toronto's panhandlers
By SUE-ANN LEVY
After spending nearly a year studying Toronto's pesky street begging issue, officials at Socialist Silly Hall have concluded more scarce city money must be spent to address the "needs" of people who panhandle.
In an almost absurd 50-page report to tomorrow's executive committee, the city's homeless bureaucrats propose that instead of putting in place an anti-panhandling bylaw (as they are able to do under the City of Toronto Act), $2.5 million and a new team of 48 street workers be added immediately to their Streets to Homes fiefdom to assist those who panhandle to get services, housing (if they need it) and "where possible" employment.
That amount is on top of the $8.7 million already being spent this year on the Streets to Homes program, which officials boast has been responsible for housing 1,600 homeless people since 2005. Officials propose that the funding top-up increase by $4.9 million next year.
The bulk of the money, it would seem, will be spent on two mobile teams who will provide a "social service response" seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. to legal panhandlers plying their trade both in the downtown core (from Yorkville down to Lake Ontario) and in other parts of the city.
"We are taking the successful Streets to Homes program to the next level," Phil Brown, general manager of shelter, support and housing told me last week. "We are investing more to make sure we end street homelessness and the number of people who need to panhandle."
Asked what they mean by "legal" panhandlers, he said those are people pursuing any begging actions not defined as illegal and a police matter under the Safe Streets Act -- for instance begging in front of ATMs or in the middle of the road.
I wondered if obstructing the sidewalk or blocking the doorway of a doughnut shop while panhandling was considered legal or illegal. "I think it's legal," Brown said.
In fact the report suggests at least eight managers of businesses in the downtown core described beggars who opened doors for their customers as "service providers" rather than panhandlers. "The business community is very supportive of the social service approach," Brown added.
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Levy_Sue-Ann/2008/05/04/pf-5466986.html
