HOMELESSNESS IS THE SYMPTOM - NOT THE DISEASE

 THE QUESTION NO ONE IS FACING

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🎙️ VOICE of NANAIMO

▶️ Click Play to listen

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Homelessness Is Not the Problem — It’s the Warning

Nanaimo is debating The Hub.

Where should it go?

Who should pay?

How much disruption should neighbours absorb?

Fair enough.

But those are not the biggest questions.

The real question is this:
How many missed paycheques before an ordinary person ends up homeless?

HOMELESSNESS: YOU’RE CLOSER THAN YOU THINK

That is where this story starts.

Not on the street.

Not at the shelter.

Not at the overdose site.

It starts when people run out of room to breathe.

• Rent too high.
• Food too high.
• Bills too high.
• Debt everywhere.
• One missed cheque.
• Then two.
• Then panic.
• Then collapse.
• Then government opens another “hub” and calls it compassion.

But that is not prevention.

That is cleanup.

That is society waiting until people hit bottom, then acting surprised when more keep falling.

And that is the warning.

Homelessness is not just about a hard-core street population anymore.

It is about how many people are now living one or two bad months from disaster.

That should scare everybody.

Because the next person on the street may not be who people imagine.

• It could be a worker.
• A senior.
• A renter.
• Someone who looked fine six months ago.

So yes, Nanaimo has to deal with today’s crisis.

But unless somebody deals with the root — cost of living, housing, debt, addiction, mental illness, and social breakdown — this problem only gets bigger.

Homelessness is not the disease.

It is the warning.

And warnings ignored become disasters.