The Homeless: Money

Well, life has settled down and I can go back to the regularly scheduled program. But before I do, the babbling of the past couple of days has helped alot. Anyway, back to the topic at hand...

The age-old problem of the homeless is money. Where do you get it? The government is supposed to help and does a bit. Yet the money you get is a mere handout.

What had me furious was that I had put into the system since I started working in 1975. Never once had I taken any money from the system. So when I needed it, I thought the government would be there for me. Not!

For a brief time, when I got to the OBM, I had a job in November at a boiler room called DSI. But that only lasted three weeks. So I had to apply for welfare so I would be able to live.
I went to the downtown office and started to fill in all the paperwork. Which got screwed up so I received nothing until January. And it was $545.00 for a month.

Some would say, that is not bad. That gives you about $20 a day. You are not paying rent and your food is taken care of, so that is pure cash in your pocket. And that is true if you plan to just exist.

First of all, there is food available at the OBM and other places. Yet because of the volume, you are served things like spaghetti with just tomato sauce. And some of the soup kitchens are only open once or twice a week. You can barely exist on the food. And that is assuming you get food.
If you did not get there early, there would be nothing left. And of course, you would have to wait in line for at least an hour or so, hoping there would be something.

So from the $20, you would have to shell out money for some food. Even at places like McDonald’s or the food courts, you can’t get anything decent under $5. And if you want a cup of coffee, you are looking at over $1. All too quickly $20 becomes nothing.

As with anything to do with being homeless, getting money is dehumanizing. If you don’t have a bank account, you have to go to the main welfare office to pick up your check. Which opens its doors at 8:30. Often the line-up starts before 7.

So you stand in line to get into the main waiting room. Where you are given a number. And then wait to be called up to one of the main booths. There they check your ID and make sure your name is on the list. If it is, then you go to another waiting area to get the check. When they call your name, you go up, sign a form and finally have your check.

This whole ordeal would take a couple of hours. I would get into line by 8 and be out usually around 10:30. Then the next ordeal starts: how do you cash the check?

At that time, places like Money Mart did not cash government checks. And regular banks would not cash the check unless you had an account with them. So the only place was the Caisse Pops but that would be were all the people with checks would go. You were looking at another couple of hours in line just to get the check cashed.

That is when I found out about an underground industry. One of the guys I had met at the OBM (more about him later) told me of a bar on Ste. Catherine that would cash the check. I had to photocopy a piece of ID and give it to them with the check. They would take $10 from the check and expect you to have at least one beer.

When Ryan brought me there, I felt I was in an episode of the Sopranos. The two guys running the place looked just like characters from the show. But I got the check cashed minus $14.
What stunned me was the parasites out there. Along the walk to the bar, there were quite a few people hawking drugs. And then in the bar, there was a whole wall of video poker machines. All manned by people I recognized from the OBM. The waitress walked about with shot glasses and some booze. And people came off the street, selling things like watches, etc. All out for some of the little money we had received.

One of the things that struck me was that on the first of the month, the OBM would be half full that night and for a couple of nights after. I quickly found out that many of them would get a room in some dive and spend their money gambling and drinking. And once the money dried up, they would return to the OBM.

It was a vicious cycle. But I’m not surprised. In this situation, you are looking for escape. Something to numb the pain. Something to give you hope. Something to escape from the boredom.

The end result is going crazy for a couple of days on the video poker machines, drinking and doing drugs. For the briefest moment, there is something to do. And once the money is gone, back to the same routine.

That is one thing I learnt while I was on the street. Many of the people out there begging do get some money from the government. But for a short time, they try to escape. And when they can’t, they are back to scraping an existence asking for money. Chasing the elusive dragon, hoping for a fast way out. But it is always just outside their reach.