Police crackdowns make homelessness worse in Edmonton - ECOHH member shares

ECOHH is a member-driven coalition, and individual members are volunteers who care deeply about the homelessness crisis in Edmonton and want to see change. David Rivera-Kohr is a relatively new ECOHH member, who, in his own words, was "shocked" to see the extent of homelessness in our city when he moved here from the U.S. last year. He's been active in organizing a collaboration-building event on May 17 at the University of Alberta, and this week had an opinion piece published in the Edmonton Journal about policing and homelessness.

As David notes: "A massive amount of police labour is dedicated to managing unhoused people. With a police operating budget of over $600 million (the largest item in the city budget), these confrontations cost millions of dollars annually. While using police to relocate unhoused people might seem like restoring “order,” this strategy actually causes longer bouts of homelessness, more suffering, and more death — all on the taxpayer’s dime. Unhoused people do not need punishment; they need help."

You can read the full article here

630 CHED did a follow-up interview with David and you can listen to that here.

As a member or follower of ECOHH, you can help spread the word by sharing to your network as well. Thank you so much!