Taking a first step to fix unsheltered homelessness

Solving a problem as wide and deep as the homelessness crisis can feel like an impossibly long journey. The only way to get there is to take the first step.

That first step needs to focus on the people who are in the most dire need, whose human right to adequate housing is most obviously and egregiously denied: people who are homeless and unsheltered.

About 1,000 people are living outside in Toronto, in encampments, ravines, doorways, and bus stops. Many more people are homeless and less visible. In June, Toronto’s emergency shelter system turned away an average of 231 people per night. That number only counts people who are actively looking for a space in the shelter system. Many people have given up looking, or do not want to be there for many valid and well-known reasons.

This first step also needs to get right to it. We need built-form, or physical structure, designs for spaces that people would choose to live in. These designs should provide people with safety, security, sanitation, and social connection. While there is a time and place for long-term policy-making, the urgency of this problem requires us to act immediately to provide interim fixes.

For many people, “housing” brings a specific image to mind: a triangle on top of a square, with a door and two windows, a lawn, and a sun peeking in the top corner. You’ve seen this picture millions of times; you’ve probably drawn it too. In North America, we struggle even to see apartments and condos as “real” homes. With this stock image come all the usual ideas about cost and timelines and processes to build homes. These limit the way we think about the problem, and what we might do to start solving it.

So, the first step should inspire us, designers and non-designers alike, with a new picture that can stand beside the triangle-and-square. This picture – a drawing, photo, blueprint, or the like – should show us how we can think differently about this problem, and what we can do. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and that seeing is believing. These visual images can help us understand the proposals, and persuade our political leaders that we need them to act and lead, and not to nit-pick and find fault and come up with reasons why they won’t take a first step.

Of course, this is only one step. The real answer to encampments and to homelessness is stable, adequate housing. Every person has a human right to a decent home that can be the foundation of dignity and well-being. Making sure that everyone has a home is the ultimate goal.

Changing our housing systems so that every person can access an adequate home is a big job that requires a broad range of action from all levels of government. Some promising action is underway, but these long-term fixes won’t deliver for five to ten years. People without a home cannot wait. We also need to do something now.

But we can’t do more of the same. We know our shelter system is not working for everyone; more shelters is not the answer. We need to look at new ideas and bring existing ideas to light. For example, visionary architects such as John van Nostrand have developed designs that aim to bridge people between unsheltered homelessness and long-term housing. No single idea will be perfect. First steps are often wobbly. The important thing is to get moving and keep moving in the right direction.

West End Phoenix and Maytree want to see your ideas, so we’ve launched un/SHELTERED: Toronto Design Challenge. Through this challenge, we are seeking imaginative, innovative built-form designs for people who are homeless and unsheltered. We are looking for designs that are practical and feasible. Most importantly, we are seeking designs that protect every person’s inherent human dignity.

un/SHELTERED is a challenge and an opportunity: entrants can demonstrate how their design can meet the needs of a person who has been excluded from our current housing system. At the same time, it’s an opportunity for entrants to share their vision of a proposed structure, which can broaden our understanding of what’s possible.

We are looking for new ideas and new designs that help us imagine that first step – better responses to the human rights violation of unsheltered homelessness.  Help us spread the word. We need to take that first step now.