When I was a kid, my mom and I played Punch Buggy. The rules were simple. Whoever spotted a Volkswagen Beetle first got to call it out. “Punch Buggy!” Before long, it seemed like Beetles were everywhere. Of course they …
When people think about homelessness, this is often the image that comes to mind. A bench. A shopping cart. Everything someone owns piled together. It’s a real image. It’s also an incomplete one. My experience doesn’t look like this. Tonight …
Every day has a headline somewhere. This wasn’t one of them. These photographs were made during a single lunch hour on one block of Richter Street in Kelowna. A restaurant opens for lunch. A delivery arrives. Shelter staff prepare lunch. …
The Richter Street Bike Shop It really was a five-dollar bike. You could tell. It was kind of silver. Kind of rusty. The paint was chipped, scratched, and faded from years of use. The front tire was black. The rear …
People tell you to keep looking. They mean well. They imagine looking for housing means scrolling through listings over a morning coffee, sending a few messages, arranging a viewing, signing a lease, and moving in. That isn’t what it looks …
There are sentences you’re not supposed to say out loud. “I like taking my shits here.” Read that again. It’s crude. It isn’t polished. It isn’t the sort of sentence you’d expect to open a piece of journalism. It’s also …
At 4:42 a.m., I called 911. By that point, my regular medications had stopped controlling the pain. It had become so severe that simply getting from my bed to the shelter door was an ordeal. Every push on my manual …
I wasn’t looking for a story. I’d finished what I needed to do for the day. I was tired. I had a few hours before the last bus, and I really didn’t feel like going back to the shelter just …
This morning I called the BC Housing Registry. The call lasted 13 minutes. I was told my file was active. My information was updated. My mobility needs were reviewed. We discussed walkers, wheelchairs, stairs, bathtubs, income assistance, shelters, and the …
Most people know the headline. Some remember the news stories. Some remember the public debate. Some remember the arguments about housing, healthcare, responsibility, and policy. Some remember the photographs from the hospital. Some remember the letters. I remember Cory. Not …