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Articles on Homeless shelters

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Tents at an encampment in Crab Park, Vancouver, in August 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

British Columbia’s proposed bill on ‘alternative shelter’ risks doing serious harm to unhoused people

If passed, B.C.’s Bill 45 will trample over the constitutional rights of unhoused people by ignoring shelter barriers, Indigenous rights and the need for daytime shelter
As July temperatures soared to triple digits, hundreds of homeless people lived on the street outside Phoenix’s largest shelter. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Shelters can help homeless people by providing quiet and privacy, not just a bunk and a meal

As US cities struggle to reduce homelessness, two scholars explain how planners can reform shelter design to be more humane and to prioritize mental health and well-being.
Antonio Magalhaes holds his wife Andrea Magalhaes as they walk towards Keele Station, where their 16-year-old son, Gabriel Magalhaes, was killed in a random attack in the Toronto subway system. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin

The grieving mother of a murdered teen pleads for a stronger social safety net

Andrea Magalhaes hasn’t demanded vengeance since her son was murdered — she’s called for expanding the social safety net to address the root causes of crime. Public officials should listen to her.
Toronto Public Health’s tool kit for COVID-19 prevention in congregate living settings contains few references to ventilation, air filtration and other measures to prevent airborne transmission. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston 

How safe are Ontario’s shelters and other shared living settings from airborne COVID-19?

Because COVID-19 is airborne, we can’t know if the shelter system is as safe as it should be without seeing metrics related to ventilation, filtration and occupancy.
Australia has housed rough sleepers during the pandemic, unlike the US, but it’s a temporary fix. Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich/EPA/AAP

COVID spurred action on rough sleepers but greater homelessness challenges lie ahead

Australia found shelter for more than 33,000 rough sleepers and other homeless people during the pandemic, but a coming surge in homelessness demands a comprehensive national housing strategy.
Police involvement is missing persons cases is often necessary. (Eric Ward/Unsplash)

What defunding the police could mean for missing persons

In the absence of serious efforts by mental health centres, shelters and youth group homes to prevent people from running away from their facilities in the first place, police involvement is necessary.
Inmates work in the laundry room at Las Colinas Women’s Detention Facility in Santee, California, on April 22, 2020. Sandy Huffaker/AFP via Getty Images

What the coronavirus crisis reveals about vulnerable populations behind bars and on the streets

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, missteps in transitioning the incarcerated back to their communities places this already vulnerable populace at greater risk of getting and transmitting the virus.
A homeless person lies in a tent pitched in downtown in Toronto on April 18, 2020. Many of the city’s homeless population have taken to staying in tents around the city as concerns mount about the safety of the shelter system due to the COVID-19 pandemic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Ontario’s Safe Streets Act will cost lives amid the coronavirus pandemic

Police officers are integral front-line workers during this extraordinary crisis. They should be empowered to act as protectors of the vulnerable, not as persecutors of homeless people.
People between the ages of 25 and 34 are the largest group of woman who find themselves homeless. Oleg Golovnev/Shutterstock

‘I didn’t want to be homeless with a baby’: young women share their stories of homelessness

The largest group of homeless women is between the ages of 25 and 34, and family violence is most often the cause. Their stories testify to the dangers and stresses of not having a place to call home.
The public outrage at the killing of Courtney Herron, including a vigil in the park where her body was found, demands more than a knee-jerk response from government. Daniel Pockett/AAP

Look beyond crisis accommodation so people like Courtney Herron aren’t homeless in the first place

The brutal killing of a young homeless woman has led to calls for more crisis accommodation. This is a short-term fix. We have to move beyond crisis management to sustained housing for people at risk.
Many homeless shelters are designed to house as many people as possible — not to empower them while they’re there. Reuters/Brian Snyder

Shelter design can help people recover from homelessness

Studies show that people’s environments influence their mood. The same is true of homeless shelters, which can either help or hurt residents’ psychological well-being — and, possibly, their futures.

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