Getting a job is easier said than done
I’m frequently asked if I interact much with those using the services of Siloam Mission.
My answer is yes. These individuals are not abstractions or people whom I generalize about without having a degree of personal connection.
While I do spend some time in our drop-in centre, my favourite encounters occur on Siloam’s large loading dock at the rear of the building. It’s like my second office-space.
It doesn’t take long before I’m approached by someone wanting to visit. Before long, I find myself involved in some of the most fascinating, and at times disturbing, conversations I’ve ever had.
On one such occasion, I was chatting with a fellow and looking down the dock toward Henry Avenue.
A man was crossing the narrow street and heading our way. He obviously didn’t see a car coming toward him. The motorist screeched to a halt just in time.
“Get a job!”
Angered, the driver leaned out of his window and snarled, “Get a job!” before speeding off with his arm extended in a one-finger salute. The pedestrian was mad, too, and the gesture was reciprocated in kind.
I was thinking about that close call the other day when I ran across some notes written by Sarah Enns.
As Siloam’s former community education co-ordinator, Sarah had written some answers to a frequently asked question regarding people who are experiencing homelessness. The question was: “Why don’t they just get a job?”
It is a question people have asked me as well.
There are those who think the struggles of homelessness in Winnipeg have an easy solution: if people weren’t so lazy, if they just put in a little more effort, if they simply tried harder, everything would be fine.
Well, here’s something you may not know about. Siloam Mission’s Hannah’s Place Emergency Shelter has 110 beds and is full most nights. But a good 35% of shelter patrons get up very early in the morning to hit the streets to find a job.
Sporadic at best
Temporary work placement agencies offer employment that is sporadic at best. Many of our patrons head over to the agencies to get a job for a day.
Maybe the job ends up lasting a few more days or the work becomes steady for a longer period of time — but often they head over there and are told there is no job at all.
This is the type of work available to many individuals experiencing homelessness — unreliable, unsteady, unpredictable. And forget about luxuries like pension plans or benefits.
One might ask what happens to the other 65% who come and go at Siloam’s emergency shelter? There are many reasons that someone may not be working.
Here is Sarah Enns’ list of contributing barriers: physical illness, mental illness, physical disability, mental disability, old age, language barriers, drug and alcohol addiction, a previous criminal record, lack of education, lack of skills, no address, no phone number, no identification, stereotyping, discrimination and cyclical poverty.
Sarah asks: “Why, then, don’t they just get a job? With all this in mind, how can people still even ask that question?”
— Larry Updike is the senior communications and advocacy officer for Siloam Mission.
