What to do when there’s nowhere to pee?

I was in a meeting the other day with a variety of community leaders and stakeholders.  Participants were trying to figure out a way to clean up a particular area of downtown that has a lot of issues with individuals who are homeless urinating in it. 

It is no doubt impacting the surrounding businesses.  The solutions proposed were splash back paint, thorny poisonous vines and, to top it off, a joke about a kitty litter was welcomed. 

I was horrified at how much thought was put in to how we can further make things difficult for already marginalized people, rather than simply ensuring people had access to bathrooms.  So, with this in mind I hope to encourage a dialogue about meeting basic needs in our community as a real, and more humane, solution. 

Most of us have heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need.  We are familiar with food, clothing and shelter as the most basic of needs (which they sure are) but we often don’t think of the other things in the bottom tier of the hierarchy, which is actually called psychological needs, like sleep and even peeing. 

We do not provide for psychological needs to be adequately met in our community.  I believe that is what has perpetuated human suffering and exacerbated the very real issues we see every day.  

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Yes they are peeing behind our businesses but, there are few if any public washrooms available to use, especially overnight.

Yes, people are camping in our parks, but there are really not enough housing and shelter options.

Yes, they are sleeping on the bench at the park, but they are tired from being moved on all the time.

Yes, there is needle debris, but they are living with a substance use disorder and there is nowhere safe to use their drugs.

Yes, they might beg or panhandle, but they are hungry.

Yes, they have shopping carts, but they have nowhere else to keep their belongings.

Yes, they are hanging out at places like Turning Point or sitting in parks, but there is literally no other place to be.

Imagine if you will, that you had no real connections, you had endured unbelievable traumas and suddenly lost everything (whether it was “your fault “or not) what would you do?  Where would you sleep if the shelter was full?  Where would you go if you had literally nowhere to be? What would you do different?  Would you get a job? 

Good luck with that when you haven’t been able to shower in days and you are carrying all your belongings with you in to the interview.  Or what about if you are living with untreated mental illness? Do you think someone will hire you? What if you tried to use a bathroom and people locked you out or called the police?  Where would you pee? What would you do if you were so hungry it hurt?  Would you ask someone to help?   Where would you hang out if you had no real options?

These are serious questions and examples of things individuals face every day in our community. In no way am I trying to be condescending, I really am looking for answers. I know the issue of homelessness has impacts broader than only the human suffering the individuals endure and I’m stuck on ensuring that people have access to meeting their physiological needs with dignity as the answer.  I am certainly open to other solutions but I just don’t know what they are.

I am a huge fan of housing provision.  Appropriate housing for all is my end goal, and has been for many years.  On the Homeless Hub website you will see  that “significant research has been done that explores the cost of housing someone in jail, hospitals or the shelter system compared to housing them in social or supportive housing. The difference is quite shocking. In a 2005 study by Pomeroy which looked at costs in four Canadian cities, institutional responses (jails, hospitals etc.) cost $66,000-$120,000 annually, emergency shelters cost $13,000-$42,000 annually whereas supportive and transitional housing cost $13,000-$18,000 and affordable housing without supports was a mere $5,000-$8,000.   This cost analysis doesn’t look at the social and human costs. Not only is putting someone in housing cheaper, it is also much more humane. The longer someone remains homeless the greater likelihood that their physical and mental health will deteriorate and there is an increased chance of an early death.”

While we work to ensure housing is put in place we need to ensure that people’s basic psychological needs are being met in the meantime and that they have legitimate places to be.  Can we try that?  The impact would be profound I believe.  There would be no need to pee in a back alley any more or sleep on a door step.  People would have a place to go with all their things so nobody would have to look at the shopping carts and devastation any more. People would not have to be afraid and others would have the opportunity to move up that hierarchy with dignity and hope. 

This should be our goal; this is the only meaningful one I can think of.   There may be other solutions and we should seek them out but one thing I do know is thorny bushes and kitty litter trails are not the answer.

NOTE: The views expressed in this column do not necessarily represent those of rdnewsNOW or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group. Column suggestions and letters to the editor can be sent to news@rdnewsNOW.com.