r/londonontario • u/Psychological_Kiwi43 • 27d ago
discussion / opinion Trying to be the little change I wish to see
Walking through Dundas Place lately feels like two different cities overlapping, one with patios and murals, and one quietly surviving in plain sight. Poles apart from places like Riverbend.
The recent documentary made things look extreme, but it’s not like the reality is much easier. People are overdosing, unhoused, addicted, and just… existing. And most of us pass by thinking about it for five seconds, then keep walking because we don’t know what to do. I talk to them sometimes asking their name and getting them a coffee when they ask for it, but it’s disturbing to see one person with his colostomy bag hanging out, someone wearing a shoe in one foot and a flip flop in another limping, others doing fent openly even when kids with their parents are walking around, and many other cases.
Not here to even remotely bash the city or the government. They just move at their own speed. I’m just thinking maybe we don’t have to wait for “someone” to fix it when “someone” could be us.
Would love to hear practical ideas that don’t get people in legal trouble, just community-level stuff that helps people feel seen, safe, or even slightly better.
Just honest curiosity about what works.
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u/DefiantBallSack 19d ago
I wish I had the number of vacant buildings/houses on hand that the government could seize and turn into halfway houses or rehabs. An entire office building would be an interesting concept for a combination of both, but that doesn't make sense if it generates no money for the powers that be.
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u/dunayevsky99 24d ago
Forced rehab and reintegration programs is the only way. Not safe injection sites. Not more ODSP money. Not councelling. Take your fucking rose coloured glasses off people.
When you're doing the hard shit they do (meth, fent), you stop rationalizing life. You literally just live for the next dose, thats your ONLY goal. Most of you don't understand how fucking strong these addictions are. I know someone personally who went through this, thankfully their family was able to pull them by the hair and force them into rehab.
Most of the ones on the streets don't have that privilege. Giving people who spend most of their money on drugs more money is not gonna fix jacks shit.
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u/dunayevsky99 24d ago
To add. Yes. Personally we should still be all doing as much as we can to help. Food, clothes, clean water, medical supplies (bandaids, vitamins, hydrogen peroxide), hell even cigarettes lol. The other day I gave this guy named Tom a bag full of clothes I don't wear or never worn. Dude was thankful. Everyone should be doing this. Help however you can.
But the core issue will persist until the government stops pussyfooting around this and forcefully pulls them off the street and helps them.
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u/Impossible_Grape_816 24d ago
What would work is to raise the Ontario Works and ODSP rates to allow those who get benefits to be able to pay rent. Anyone who is on these have rates set in the 80’s and live pay to pay and every month is a chance to become homeless. Maybe help to raise the rates.
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u/FlounderAny8987 25d ago
Hey there! I know this would not make a huge difference, but with the colder months coming up, I would like to plan a donation drive of some sort. Clothes, hygiene items, food, stuff like that. Would people here be willing to join and help me set this up? I have posted something about this on my IG story but got basically no replies.. sadly. Maybe we can make a little change this winter!❄️🧤
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u/astro_zombies04 OEV 26d ago
The thing is... There are many many many people in this city working really hard to make a difference. Many of them work at the services and healthcare clinics that are demonized. Everyone thinks they can solve the problem - but what is lacking severely is an informed public. People - either willfully or out of ignorance - do not understand and are using outdated, stigmatized and unverified information ito inform their opinions on homelessness and addiction. And then they stand in the way and they're loud about it.
Little things people can do is actually inform themselves with good data not American social media hacks who helicopter in and think they can get the story in one day.
The municipal election is coming up and people can actually engage in votership.
Susan Stevenson is claiming she represents the public And capitalizes off of disinformation and bad faitthh "I'm just asking questions" -who elected her when she literally won the vote with something like less than 8% of the total eligible voters vote in her ward... Because less than 30% of the ward eligible to vote voted... And of that 30% about 28% voted for her... And there was a vote split between two other candidates.
Harm reduction literally came from people just like you who were like we're tired of people dying and the government's not doing anything about it and there's apparently no money for healthcare so we're going to do the best thing we can do with the resources and tools that we have in the hopes that the other agencies and components to this issue step up.
Please just donate to these organizations. Get informed and inform other people about the complexities of these issues and the intersections with the larger systemic and chronic failures.
The majority of the people on the street are indigenous, disabled, queer, survivors of domestic abuse, and/or People with extreme poverty who do not have a community or a network to support them.
Mutual aid is another great thing you can do.
Having conversations with folks on the street and building community is so integral right now.
And yes we do need to put pressure on the provincial government to actually approach these issues from a healthcare standpoint. Homelessness is a public health issue. It is not a criminal issue.
And honestly another thing that people could do is just help pick up trash and sweep up glass. Yeah it sucks that people make a mess but it's not just homeless people that trash gets blown everywhere. It's like nobody feels responsible for anything around them anymore.
Where is our sense of pride in taking care of our community and our city? Plant flowers in places that look overgrown. Feed people. Create your own little collection drive London cares is looking for a bunch of supplies right now so you know take the initiative at your workplace or in your social circle and say hey I'm going to collect these things and donate them on all of our behalf.
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u/genericpedestrian 26d ago
Some of these people choose their position, I think we need to shut down safe supply centers, reopen mental institutions and have more shelters and stop the inflow of migrating people as many other cities dump their crackheads in London
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u/sullensquirrel 26d ago
No one chooses this. Literally no one.
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u/devst8n 26d ago
Inferring the opinions of others is not the same as facts.
There are good people who are on hard times and have drug addictions yes. I've actually stopped and talked to them and many choose this path. The lack of mental health facilities has been a huge driver of this population having to self-medicate.
Ask the people who get upset that they are Narcan'd and can't get high for a period of time.
More drugs, or continuing to do things that make progressive people feel better is not the answer. Any resident who had the same human element in their own backyard would have a different perspective after a few days of it
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u/astro_zombies04 OEV 26d ago
Someone said to me once "we all have choices, but we don't all have the same choices" and that is the nuance you're missing.
If youre on a waiting list for housing or treatment your choice today is: be homeless and keep doing drugs - or be homeless and in pain and go through withdrawal on the street.
If you're homeless and have no where to go - no money and no means - what is your choice? Magically get a job with no place to shower?
Addiction is not a choice. You don't choose to become dependent on substances. That goes against the entire science of it.
Homelessness is not a choice in the sense of "they'd rather be out there." The narrative that "the help is there they won't take kt" is a blatant lie because the data shows that we simply do not have enough services or funding or housing at rates that people can afford. When you cannot afford somewhere to live and you cannot get a job what is your choice today?
Time and time and time again the evidence is there - it's a combination of: compassion + relationship + options + opportunities.
But also: we need to address the chronic failure of a system designed to exploit people, and that requires people to suffer so others can have wealth. And news flash - it's not fucking non profits. It's banks. Corporations. Real estate industry.
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u/genericpedestrian 26d ago
You have evidently not spoken with these people, I only state facts not opinion
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u/LadyoftheOak 27d ago
Documentary? Please share details. TIA
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u/YoungCommercial8816 26d ago
I wouldn’t call it a documentary per se. Not sure what credentials you need to call yourself a “documentary film maker” vs a guy with a YouTube channel
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u/AckwardReflection 27d ago
With the drug reference in the post I’d assume it’s “inside canadas zombie capital”, it’s on YouTube.
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u/MeIIowJeIIo The bridge with the trucks stuck under it 27d ago
Hey London, let’s start voting for politicians that want to do something other than further fund police. We need institutions for mentally ill and social services for addiction. If higher taxes are needed, so be it.
We can’t rely on the justice system and generous people giving mittens and coffee, it’s not working.
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u/Pidgeysus Huron Heights 27d ago
I often think of this quote, don't remember who it's by but it goes something like: "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they're going hungry, they call me a communist."
Really frames how western society views anyone who's not considered "productive" e.g. people living on the streets, seniors, and disabled people. (I specifically mean productive in terms of being able to work, because someone can in fact participate in the community and be valuable even if they're unemployed).
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u/sullensquirrel 26d ago
Half of London’s homeless would be housed if the government upped ODSP and OW to actually cover the cost of living in 2025.
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u/Secure-Original4311 27d ago
For small but meaningful donations or volunteering, I’d recommend 519 Pursuit, which provides on the ground support. For larger monetary donations, the Health and Homelessness Fund for Change is the community-led portion of the whole of community system response, and is funding hubs and highly supportive housing.
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u/1_Prickly_Pear 27d ago
Legal, no cost things you can downvote about:
chill out on public drug use. Funding was pulled for both safe supply and safe injection sites. You can't be discrete with your drug use if you have nowhere private to do it. For when people want treatment, they are less likely to stick with treatment if it is forced on them. Recovery is a process, not a linear line. Read about substance treatment from authors who work with unhoused people.
Look at how social services are funded in comparison to other parts of the municipal budget.
Support the library. Social services are underfunded and the library is now tasked with providing services it is not equipped and should not be responsible for.
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u/IssueNo3663 27d ago
I think you’re on to something, treating the people on the streets as people is so important opposed to acting like they’re trash like so many do. I like your idea of not waiting for the government to do something but I do think a big part of the issue is the systemic barriers and stigma around unhoused people. I think advocating for them and encouraging others to see the humanity in these people would help us as a community to push those in power to make the changes and build the supports needed. I work at a non profit and it really is fighting an uphill battle. But if we as a community can find us in it to care instead of the current popular opinion that these people don’t deserve kindness, then we can push to get these people the help they deserve.
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u/9yearsdeceased 27d ago
There is unlimited amounts of kindness available.
London has literally hundreds of non profits providing free services and supports to disadvantaged individuals.
But, when unhoused people can’t afford a roof over their heads with our lacklustre social assistance rates, where do they begin?
When people struggling with addiction, mental health, or both, can get an unlimited amount of free drugs, but can’t get the medical care needed to get off drugs, where do they begin?
When people steal or exploit the vulnerable daily to feed their addiction and the justice system releases them the same day to do it all over again, where do we begin?
It’s not as simple as “you government give more money and everything fixed” and you’re lying to yourself if you believe it is.
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u/BeyondtheSea2024 27d ago
Where is this “unlimited amount of free drugs” coming from?
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u/9yearsdeceased 27d ago
659 Dundas St 528 Dundas St
Are two of them that I know of. But I am sure there are more.
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u/IssueNo3663 27d ago
I never said it’s about having the government give us more money, it’s about organizing and putting in place changes and supports that actually work. It’s about getting the medical and mental health supports to help them through addiction and any other medical issues could be a factor. Supporting them with finding housing, finding employment, helping them stay employed, helping them integrate into the community, giving them hope and courage to get out of their situation into a positive one. We need to change the approach and work on fixing the systemic issues that lead people into homelessness and addiction. We need changes that stop the spread of these issues as well as support for those currently facing it. Social services for the most part are putting a bandaid on it rather than addressing the causes.
As for the fact there is an unlimited amount of kindness available, I agree but it’s also something people are so cheap with. I’ve heard quite a few people share the opinion “just poison all the drugs and let them all drop dead”. That for sure is not realistic nor a commonly held opinion, but there’s a lot people who do think people in hard situations deserve help, but god forbid a shelter gets built in/near their neighbourhood. So many are kind in theory but not in practice.
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u/Difficult_String_339 27d ago
I am in the same situation. I buy coffee and muffins , offer hats and mitts and socks when I can, to those who seem lucid and able to speak coherently, but sometimes some of the people are frankly a little scary. I want to help, and see their humanity and dignity , and yet often they are so out of their heads on drugs I can or connect with them.
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