Men Who Die Alone on the Streets
By: Agents Of Change
Tags: Health, Ethics, Homeless, Social Justice, Mental Health

Men Who Die Alone on the Streets

Photo credit: iStockphoto

By Michael Porter

On January 29, 2018, the Toronto edition of CBC News, reported that of the 94 homeless deaths recorded during 2017, males counted for 68. Among the activists who work with the homeless, there is a fear that these numbers are artificially low and that the complete data is not being shared promptly by the Toronto Public Health. Joyce Rankin, a manager at the Street Health Community Nursing Foundation clinic, told CBC that the political will to address homelessness is lacking. Single men make up the most substantial number of the homeless and as people age, men’s rate of homelessness increases.

In 2017, in Toronto, there were 61 murder victims, 39 caused by guns. Comparing homeless deaths to murders (68 versus 61), being a homeless man was more dangerous. Does that mean that those politicians who are indifferent to the plight of homeless men put them at a higher risk of death?

There are many reasons why men become homeless. These include an inadequate supply of social housing, (low vacancy rates and very high rents), a lack of funding for programs for people with mental health illnesses, an inadequate addiction treatment system and a shortage of social and economic supports to help prevent and cope with family breakdowns.

Men believe they aren’t supposed to complain or impose their burdens on others. This belief increases their isolation. Many of the men with mental health disorders are afraid to see physicians or go to hospitals for treatment. For many, it’s because being paranoid is part of their illness. Monthly injections of medications can treat this paranoia. There is even a law in Canada for getting them to a hospital but not for forcing treatment on them. Their right to a wrong choice made with a damaged mind is considered more important than their right to remain alive. They fear that treatment will be denied them because they don’t have an OHIP card. They know they don’t fit in and some are ashamed to be seen.

The life expectancy of a homeless person is between 42 and 52 years of age. The life expectancy of the general population is over 78 years with women outliving men. If an infectious disease were to find its way into Canada that caused people to die 25 to 30 years younger than expected, there would be an enormous funding, research, and political-medical response. It doesn’t appear that there has been sufficient attention paid to homelessness to see it as the killer it is.

We don’t like to see men lying on grates, even if it’s to get some warmth from the subways. We don’t want to look at them because they are so often disheveled, dirty, potentially begging and even somewhat frightening. We may think they are drug addicts or alcoholics. We ignore them and make them invisible quickly and don’t think about them. We even have ways of blaming them for not working hard enough, being lazy or believe that they are somebody else’s problem. Generally, we feel no responsibility for their situation and, therefore, no obligation to help. We cast them off. So, it’s probably not surprising that the homeless problem isn’t a platform for our politicians.

It appears that any increases in money that are made available for the homeless goes into providing emergency services. There are approaches to provide an integrated system of care that would address the complex needs of this population. Unfortunately, these new systems would require an increase in less expensive housing, significant coordination amongst a patchwork of service deliverers and require a substantial investment in the new integrated programs themselves. In Fort Worth, Dallas, Texas, the city has a plan for hiring the homeless at ten dollars an hour, plus transitional housing, to pick up street garbage. The City reports that the workers have collected almost four thousand tons of trash in a year. Not every homeless person can engage in this program because of mental health needs, but it is a start. Similar plans are popping up in Albuquerque, Chicago, Portland, and Denver. In the absence of society recognizing homelessness as a problem and no political party running for election with the stated purpose of helping the homeless, the future is bleak. More suffering, more shaming and more deaths.

In general, however, in this wealthy and stable society, homelessness is one more area where males are neglected, allowed to be harmed and made invisible.

The disgrace is that so many strong male voices are quiet. At what point does a homeless man become a person again?

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. — ALBERT EINSTEIN

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This story was previously published on The Good Men Project