Patrick

When I met Patrick, he was sitting down outside the CIBC bank in downtown Collingwood. He was holding a sign made out of a box of cheerios which read “Homeless and trying to get back on feet.” Within minutes of speaking with him, it became very clear what a kind and intelligent person he was. Patrick is 29 years old and grew up in the area until around the age of 11. After which he grew up in the foster care and group home system, he said that it had been a very damaging experience. He didn’t elaborate much but he said “if I had to choose between going back to that, or jail, I would choose jail.” He’s been homeless since he was kicked out of his apartment in Barrie this October, just before the harsh winter. This is the first time in his life he’s ever experienced homelessness, he said it's been very hard and “It definitely takes a toll on you.” I asked him what he thinks needs to be changed on a government level to substantially help the homeless. He says there needs to be more places to sleep, that the government needs to be funding human and social resources for the homeless and tangibly build shelters themselves. Within the community he said there's an AA and NA that meet, which is good, but that alone is not enough and the shelters here aren’t as reliable and stable as they should be. When I asked how he feels the community interacts with him he said “It’s about fifty-fifty.” He feels that people either don’t know how to act and pretend he doesn’t exist, or can’t stop staring. He told me a story about last month when he was spat on and harassed by a group of passersby at night, simply because of his homelessness. He was also clearly hurt when he told me about how he sees people crossing the street just to avoid walking by him. Patrick has been down on his luck for years now, he lost his job as a DSW and his wife passed away two years ago from pneumonia. He also misses his dogs Lucy and Ruby that he had to give away because he could no longer afford taking care of them. He’s stuck here because of his financial situation, but he wants to get out of this area, “I’ve got family in Newfoundland, that's where I’d go.” With the housing market on fire right now, he says that government subsidies are not as helpful as they may have once been.