REGINA – It’s only a tiny snapshot of life on the street, but five days and five nights have shown University of Regina students how difficult it can be to get a roof back over your head.
“We expect homeless people to wake up after sleeping outside and go find a job,” said Daniella Zemlak, a third year political science student participating in 5 Days For The Homeless. “How can you do that when you’re sleeping outside?”
That question is inspiring students in an international studies class to further explore the complex issue of homelessness with a discussion titled, “YQR 360: Turning Homelessness Around.”
“I think there’s a hasty assumption sometimes that homelessness is a choice,” said Brennan Dyck, a student who helped organize a panel discussion on the problem. “You want to kind of remove the stigma.”
Factors contributing to homeless in Regina could include a rental vacancy rate that sat as low as 1.5 per cent for a few years – only recently reaching Mayor Michael Fougere’s goal of three per cent. Also to blame may be rental costs, averaging nearly $1,000 per month for a one-bedroom apartment.
Panelists most people end up on the street only after losing a critical safety net.
“We have government and non-profit agencies trying to replace that, (but) we have a group of people in our city who even fall through those cracks and that’s the group we need to focus on,” said Ward 3 councillor Shawn Fraser.
“Whether that’s people who can help when things get tough financially, whether that’s people who help them walk through challenges with mental illness or addictions,” said Tyler Gray, housing support coordinator at Carmichael Outreach.
The answers to ending homelessness may not come from Friday’s discussion, though the students’ experience outside for 5 Days For The Homeless shows the most help may come from the unlikeliest of sources.
“One thing we noticed was the people that seemed to have the least, gave the most,” Zemlak said.
In order to get a clear number of how many people are homeless in Regina, volunteers will do a one-time count in May.
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