West hastings

Hey dude, you don't choose where you were born... I'm not a defender of the bums, but still, it's not a happy place to be for anyone. Had it been that simple, there would be no bums at all, but it doesn't work that way.

They are planning on opening a youth rehab centre somewhere near Hope by the way, and I'm sure there will be a lot more things done within the next 3 years, because although it's not dangerous to be around an addict, it's unpleasant.

Downtown Vancouver, especially Granville, is a totally different place past midnight. I once walked from Broadway and Granville to Pender and Cambie, and wow, I was indeed shocked at the amount of people on the streets tweaking badly. And that in front of luxury stores and whatnot.

im sorry but before i went to vancouver i came from alberta and from what i saw in vancouver/bc they also desperately need workers.  there is no excuse.  i can cook and cut bbq chicken for 15 bucks an hour or be a greeter in a god damn tim hortons for 15 dollars an hour in alberta/bc.  this is more then i make lifeguarding...to save lives..in toronto. 

They're not homeless because there aren't any available jobs, there's fuckloads of them, they're homeless cause they have severe drug and/or mental issues.

are you saynig vancouver need workers? i agree, workers who dont strike all the frikkin time.

vancouver workers strike like 10 times a year, and during the time nothing is done

Alberta yes, Vancouver not so much. McDonald's here pays $9/hour, not 13 or whatnot like in Calgary. That's also because Calgary kinda blows.
I'm not saying there aren't jobs here, but these addicts throw themselves in a vicious circle when they start doing stupid shit... I mean nobody hires someone who doesn't have an address, and what bum can have an address without a job? I think the major issue their drug-induced deathtrap, because rehab costs money, and that's only the first step of many...

so you're telling me that the gov't actually stopped all the programs to help these people or when you say programs do you mean the safe injection sites?

there is nothing out there socially to help these people?

Dude, read up. They closed down mental hospitals in the lower mainland, therefore kicking hundreds of mentally ill people onto the streets. Sure, safe injection sites are GREAT. But it wont make them take their meds on a daily basis, or help them find jobs, or low-income housing which is in a critical shortage.

And then there are the junkies who are there by pure choice, and don't want anyone's help.

Haha, low-income housing at in critical shortage? More like extinction in Vancouver. its crazy, everything is friggin over the top expenesive

I'm gonna bump this up because I had a geography field trip down there today that changed my perspective a little. Started out in Strathcona, at Keefer and Campbell street. Wow, what a charming, beautiful neighbourhood, I was honestly impressed, the houses and gardens and parks are just amazing. Homes are reaching the million dollar mark unfortunately. Our prof was talking, and some homeless guy with a cart walks by looking for cans. Somebody calls him from a house by his first name and hands him a basket of cans. That's a community. Same dude was saying hi to some old lady a couple blocks away. And then, look up around the parks at all the shoes hanging on the wires. Apparently, drug dealers do this to signal themselves. We then split up into small groups and walked around Oppenheimer park on Cordova. Total gongshow if you've never seen it. Goths banging tambourings by the church, crowded with people tweaking out, passed out on the baseball diamond, smoking crack and whatnot. Soup kitchen was happening at that time too. Little blue boxes everywhere on the ground (free needles). Then one block down are the railway movie studios with an Aston Martin parked there with its roof down. Next to it, a used needle. Talk about contrasts. Anyways, a short stroll by the railway and crab park gets you back to canada place. But it was a really strange experience. These people are harmless, yet in so much shit. Litter and poverty. I have trouble imagining what dealers look like or where they are, rolling in escalades or confused among the bums. Seriously, if you haven't yet, go check out the area with a friend or two during the day. You get the best views of downtown and get a new perspective on the area. Rehab is the only solution, but it's not hopeless.

Yup.            There is this bum in whistler named Burmbly, i've been in the hospital all week so i saw a lot of him. Fuck does he waste tax payers money. He gets sick and cold, comes to the hospital and they take care of him. They say you need a better warmer place to stay and live. They set him up in a place at squamish.    Next day who do i see? Burnbly in the hospital getting all pissed off that he's still sick and the hospital is not helping him.  Whne thehn in fact tend to him for at least 3 hours a day and give him all the drugs/ meds he needs. ( he's alsoa  jerk and pisses/ shitz on the beds) Anwyas on day he comes in soo sick and the whistler hospital doens't have the equipment they need to help him...so off in an ambulance to squamish he does. What do you know next day he's back in whistler freezing his sorry little ass off.    Fuck i hate burnbly, mostly cuz he is vulger, and too high to figure out how to use the tv and fucks it up. 

Theres the one bum who plays the guitar, I talked him out of suicide-by-guitar-string-through-the-eye one night on the bus. Who else would fil the streets with music?

the really really brown guy who wears all leather and rollerblades around and serenades you with bob marley songs when youre hammered?

I dont mind the bums in Whistler. Theres a few of them that are bums, but theyre more like hippy bums, always cool, always up for a chat.

You know, some bums in Vancouver are pretty nice. Like, 4th Ave. there used to be this one outside Capers (yeah, I know...) all the time, he was real nice, sat there with his dog, and he'd always be up for a friendly chat, whether or not you give him money. They're sometimes amusing too. Like some guy at hastings started takling to me about how he thought he could throw a ball aroud the world and catch it and stuff. pretty funy

But then you get others, like E. Hastings, who are plain creepy.

anyone see that guy that stays still and there is a sign right below him that says to operate put in 2 dollars.  i saw it as i was driving by so i didn't get a chance to see what the dude would actually do.  can't remember which street.  look pretty expensive considering the cars that i saw...ford gt..

Hey, this is a cool thread guys. I'm from Halifax, where we have homeless people but they're not really crackheads or anything. Just some mentally ill people and most of them actually have homes, they just look like vagrants. You'll see very, very few people sleeping in the streets, there might be ten around downtown on a summer night. You're at much bigger risk walking downtown from drunks leaving the bars. They love to fight in Halifax.

Now I live in Toronto and work downtown in the financial district. The homeless are quite bad in Toronto and it varies depending on what area you're in. Where I work, there is a huge problem. It's so weird to see tons of lawyers and brokers walking around in $2,000 suits and driving porsches next to tons of people sleeping in bus shelters or over HVAC units for the office towers for warmth. Some of these people will wander into the restaurants and stores below street level looking for change and can get pretty belligerent or violent sometimes. However, its nothing compared to what I'm reading here. I had heard Hastings was bad, but had never been given examples.

I guess the worst part of Toronto used to be lower Parliament, cabbies used to refuse to go through there, or they would force you to lock their doors and mostly ignore stoplights for fear of getting robbed. It's not nearly as bad now. A friend of mine used to live in St. James Town, subsidized housing and it was starting to get real bad when he moved out. Hookers and more crack dealers moved in, shootings and the like. We were starting to get kind of scared walking in dim areas late at night. My friend was mugged but he sucker punched the guy and knocked him out. George Street is really bad now, full of methadone clinics, other rehab centers, group homes for people with drug addictions and mental issues and the skeeviest strip club in town. When I first moved to the city, I biked through around 2:00AM and saw three separate arrests going down and two drug deals on the same block. Ridiculous, but no people shooting horse at 11:00AM on a street bench.

the bums of bay street.

vans crackheads are fairly docile though. i was talking to a guy who works for the city of seattle and he was pointing out to me all the parks in which hes seen/found dead bodies.

yeah the van ones are usually pretty chill, sometimes some of them hasel me too much. BUt whenevr i got downtown i always bring a buck or 2 to hand out.  If i'm in seve i'l usually buy them some small food. BUt some fo them keep goign and asking and your liek fuck offf, i'm a poor student too and i just get so tired of always being pestered and some fo them can help themselevs they just know its n easy society to live off and they can get by on the bare minimum.      Go talk to the bums on wreck beach in the summer, they fucking hate the dudes downtown. They go off about how they are (the bums at the beach) are working, selling shit, pickin up garbage and actaully trying to do something, while all the fucks downtown don't bother with anything cuz they know they can live how they are.  I have heard so many long rnats and raves from these guy about how they hate the DT and other bums, its kinda funny....but so very true.  

^  i cant quote you for some reason, but

i agree , I live downtown, most bums just sit on Davie street doing nothing. you head away from downtown, you start seeing more people with shopping trolleys full of cans and bottles and stuff.

sometimes i dont take my bottles/cans to the local safeways, instead i give it to some bums, either way its gonna get to the recycling, but someone who needs money more than i do can get the money