Surviving Edmonton: 1 year spent with homeless people seeking stable housing 

I actually recognize Kimberly, I used to work at Lucky 97 Supermarket and I'd see her come in every so often. She wouldn't buy anything major, just a bag of candy. Now that I know her and her story, I can say that if I see her, I'm buying her something warm and telling her that this stranger is thankful she's around and thriving despite being unhoused.

I m french from the Montreal area been trucking for 35 years and 10 of those years were from Edmonton, AB. on a normal winter many days are -30c and colder ! i can t imagine being outside for more than 15 min.! rent is so expensive you need to have a really good pay to afford it ! I couldn t even afford it as a trucker. i had to pay my chevy silverado 600 $ a month , 170$ for my storage room were all my belongings are, still paying that to this day ! ya !so i was living in motels on my days off. The rest of the time i was staying in the truck ! God bless those homeless ! one day at a time struggling the elements !

I almost died when I was pregnant , I was sleeping under a bridge just a few roads over from Whyte Avenue. A peace officer woke me up, if he hadn't I don't think me and my 4 year old son would be here today . I was homeless on and off in Edmonton since I was about 14 . It's really hard to get off the streets . Really hard.

2 years ago I was homeless for 11 months. The summertime was the most freedom I have ever experienced.. and I will always treasure the mindfulness that homelessness taught me. I can relate to every one of these stories. The struggle of loneliness, navigating the system to get into housing, the stigmatization and living day to day. I was fortunate enough to get into my own apartment, and get my daughter back into my custody. I hope that one day we are able to get everyone into safe affordable housing.

I wish Kimberly, Leanne, Troy and Adam the very best, and I hope they can find housing, peace and joy❤

Australia is in a rental crisis, I've been homeless for a year, I've not been on the street luckily but I know what real survival mode is, and how life becomes so small

$2000 for a 1 bedroom just reported on the news in Edmonton right now!

As a Canadian, I feel really sad for our country so called a rich country ! Our governement and society let down those citizens homeless

God bless the couple that is carrying around Noloxone and trying to help those that need it. They are such a beautiful example of giving of yourself even when you have very little to give.

Max rent for a single person on disability benefits is $500/mth out of the total $1249/mth and OW is less. Then people wonder why we have so many homeless people 😢

I'm a red seal journeyman working and I used to have some disposable income to help with my mental health, to enjoy a hockey game with my son, go bowling or eat somewhere... Those days are long gone and the gross expenditures of the federal government and insane taxes have me barely making it paycheck to paycheck.. and work is now drying up as lower paid new Canadians "sub contractors" are taking all the work ... Politicians use the struggle as a political football

Its hard to make wise choices when all the options are crap

I don't understand how a solution for homelessness through government created employment hasn't been considered. Why can't they create an ethical labor industry that anyone who is unhoused can apply for and then receive a basic place to live, food and a bit of spending money as they get on their feet and enter a rehab program if need be? If they don't want to work for their housing (obviously excluding those who medically cannot), then I don't see why there should be enormous tax payer funding towards systems that obviously aren't making that much of a difference to solve the problem.

I lived on the streets of Edmonton during the winter months and I thought many times that I wasn’t going to wake up. -48 with the windchill so damn cold and I was 3 months pregnant to boot.! Never ever want to be in that place again!

The addictions are a problem . No one wants to rent to them .

Adam & I used to volunteer at The Mustard Seed church together. Such great memories & laughs

Thank all of you for sharing your stories with us. 😢🙏 ❤

My understanding of the housing crisis is that aside from much of it being turned into short term accom like Air BnB, REIT ETF’s as a real estate investment means giant corporations are buying up entire apartment buildings and raising rents exorbitantly. They literally drive people to homelessness. Housing needs to stop being financialized. It should be a basic human right just as healthcare should be. My heart goes out to the many displaced people struggling to survive. God bless.

I have spoken with many seniors living in affordable housing (apartments) that the city has turned into affordable housing for homeless: it’s a nightmare for them. The drug use, prostitution, it’s extremely dangerous, it gets dirty and out of control quickly…. It causes properties to lose value, which is a huge blow to anyone to owns a unit. I have empathy for these people, my own brother was extremely close to this life… I will say, there’s no solution for them until the drug use is addressed. You can’t have a happy, fruitful life slamming dope or high on meth. It wasn’t until my brother quit using, got help, and cleaned up and got a job that he began really living: now he has a common law wife and a child, he’s happier and more importantly clean. Edmonton has a drug problem: period.

😢I lived in Edmonton for 7 years. 2003-2009. 20 years ago you could rent a nice 2 bedroom apartment for 800-1000

I'm one of the lucky ones I was only on the streets for 3 weeks 8 years ago which in a way was good for me I was hard into the meth for a year being on the streets helped me realize that it wasn't me and I needed to change. It was bloody well cold out got frost bite on my toes in that 3 weeks but got off the meth got help and now I have my family back and thriving again.

Finland solved this. Housing first! then they can deal with the issues through social workers. Tiny homes aren't expensive. Make a village. They just need a small space. Unfortunately, homelessness is a business. Lots of people gain from it

They were originally going to do "Surviving Winnipeg" but quickly remembered it would be the mission of no return

So sad we have this problem here in Canada And one can slip in to this problem so easily

Strong lady and she never gave up 😊

I wish we could find a solution to this. No one should have to live like this. Substances are a crutch. Lots of damaged people out there.

I'm so happy people are able to use the hope mission, I was able to have a temporary job to help clean and build part of it.

fent and rent do not mix

This is officially a world where I can work. Not have a substance abuse addiction at all. And my family and I? Are now on the verge of homelessness.. and people still have the audacity to be commenting here as if it’s only heads that end up here and it’s all their fault. Based on their poor life choices.. people really have no idea that it’s even people who work, make all the best choices they can and don’t have substance abuse problems. We are literally on the verge of ending up in the same position. And no. The help and resources aren’t there, they are maxed out! And over whelmed. You guys are really not getting it.. they need to talk to more people like me. Only? My family will just be attacked and bullied for speaking out and telling the truth. That’s crazy!

Canada should learn lesson from Finland to resolve homeless problem absolutely

God bless.

Its estimated 45% of homeless Canadians are disabled and/or mentally ill. They can't afford to rent anywhere and affordable housing waitlists are a decade long.

The root is mental illness, then drug addiction. You can’t solve the homelessness issues without solving these issues first.

@7:43 that's poor sweet woman has refused to give up her Rings which makes me believe that their heirlooms or of great sentimental value!!!!! and it's really really hard to live like her and hold on to anything worth money I respect that woman so much!!!!

There are over 100 million homeless people in China, although there are unfinished apartments enough to house 1.4 billion people in the country.

They can house criminals for years on end but can't take the time to house addicts against their "will" until they get clean and have the mindset refocused by emotional and mental health help.. If one does not show any recovery than house them in a clean environment where they are fed, cleaned and eventually they'll come around.. They do it with criminals not sure why they can't do it with addicts and emotional broken people..

They are making it harder for the homeless , my bro lives on the streets . Ive also too in the past and know how it is . I remember the temp agencys you go in to work , you used to get paid cash at the end of the day . Now from what i hear , you can go in temp agency , get sent out and work for one day , and now you have to wait a whole week just to get paid for that one day work! So even those homeless that wanna work , they are making it harder for them . Better for cash daily because , living on the street people know you get paid at end of week big cash sum , you gonna get robbed !

Should use rexall place for them in the winter

Build rehabs first and then house the successful applicants.

They mention home ed, but they don’t mention how stringent they are. They aren’t just a call away. Getting help from what used to be capital region housing is like pulling teeth. All this money but so much bureaucracy and red tape to get that help. It’s pathetic.

It's hard to imagine a harsher major city to live in if homeless than Edmonton.

This is beyond sad...💔🥺

We need to take a housing first approach or these people will continue the cycle. Not saying let them do as they please as they please but be more understanding and compassionate obout relapses.. it's worked in other countries. We need to deal with the cause of the addiction or things will never change

It's sad and yet hard to believe that nobody in this story has family that can house them, even in a garage, for the winter.

Bless u 🙏🏾 all stay strong n positive 🙏🏾 Stay warm. Keep the faith

Anyone who abuses drugs or alcohol to the point that it prevents them from finding work should not expect society's help until they have committed to trying to get clean.

Some people want to be rid of them by not helping them. The problem is there will always be poor people just like there will always be sickness. By helping them, we protect our city from diseases and crime. Most faiths require we assist them.🙏

Canada's shame. Alberta's shame. All of this was preventable. There's no good reason a single person should be on the streets. Blame slumlords. Blame rentiers. Blame speculators. Blame our 40% of Members of Parliament who are rentiers and speculators. Blame Edmonton City Council that still refuses to ban whole-home absentee 'host' airbnbs. Blame all the "mom & pop" landlords who deliberately let their "investment properties" sit empty so they can get manipulate supply/demand and claim another tax-writeoff. Blame developers who hold municipalities hostage by threatening to not-build anything if rent-controls are implemented. Blame everyone who says we need only "build more housing!" while ignoring that few if any new builds are affordable. Blame the Bank of Canada for manipulating interest rates that encourage rentiers to buy more property than they need, and push low-income homeowners into negative amortizations and foreclosure when they're raised again. Have your heard "Canada Is Spending 75% of Its Forecast Deficit To Prop Up Mortgages" (Better Dwelling) rather than just admitting the policies they created were a disaster, the debt-bubble is real, the housing bubble is real, the economy is NOT "OK", and just allowing this giant Ponzi scheme we call Canadian real estate to pop into oblivion once and for all? Stupid stupid shelters that boot people out for hours - for what purpose?! For evidence that simply "building more!" will NOT increase affordability or "solve the housing crisis", read "Sick City" (2021), by UBC Prof & Urban Designer Patrick Condon. For years he insisted we need only "build more housing" to restore housing affordability, but he now admits he was dead wrong, and that only "non-market" housing can save us. The book can be downloaded as free PDF from his website "justicelandandthecity".

Why pay taxes as a generational Canadian when you are last on the list and all tax money goes to others and things that do nothing to bring generational Canadians out of poverty?

Don't do drugs. Unfortunate you can't trust them with work, housing, or behaving properly when in groups.... they will always let you down and sell their own mother for a fix. I guess that's why the empathy is just low. Good luck to them!

You can get to such a bad point in your life that any improvement chances are unlikely and, even worse, anyone who tries to help you will not only fail but be harmed in the process. At that point you're cursed in a sense and could even pass your curse on to others, like a drowning person pulling a lifeguard under the water with them.

Kimberly I would love to have a meal and a conversation with you. I am also needing a haircut so you could make some much needed money. How can I get in contact with you?

👏Well Done! 👏 I am at HOPE myself, and yup, Kim's back, but don't give up "hope" on her! I've watched homeless over 10 years now and it seems like the amount of time you spend IN homelessness is the same amount it takes you to get OUT. Many runs at it must be made, but each time they go a bit further until they reach their dream.

Honestly how much people try to take them out and try to help them….your doing more harm on their mental health then any good. I have a sibling who’s been downtown Edmonton and we tried everything to help her…but she was happy to be down there…..she’s jn a housing program and doing better. She’s been there for over 10years in that lifestyle. ❤❤❤❤

It is only going to get worse.....heartbreaking

If you are homeless in Edmonton you need to take a bus to Vancouver now. It is a lot warmer.

It feels me to see this... yet we send all this money to Ukraine..it doesnt matter if some are on drugs or not..were still humans..

I'm not sure if it's just me...I'm thinking drugs are not free or cheap. I don't know how anyone can afford substance abuse. Many sad stories for sure.

No one will rent to an addict. They destroy everything. They need to kick the habit with some help and then maybe they will get clean and find a better life. Courts need to come down harder on the drug dealers and organized crime groups that control and peddle drugs to these people

If we take 1% of the money that governments piss away everyone could have a place. We are all being taxed to death anyway so why not set aside a certain amount of tax money for that. Everyone should have a safe place to stay especially in the winter months. I found out that for every person in the shelters they charge $1100.00 per person every night. This is why they have to leave every morning by 8am. So when they come back later that night they can charge another $1100.00 per person. This is what the millionaire owners charge the government. So we tax payers are footing the bill anyway.

and going around saving everyone SAVE YOURSELF

let's be honest she's her own worst enemy . as a society we should try to help these people as much as we can but we can only do so much. to quote her own words ( I was happier on the streets ) look living in a treehouse not having to work and having everything paid for sounds lovely. unfortunately it's not realistic so where does our responsibility begin and end. ?

Something can be done, treatment centres and outdoor areas set aside for homeless (lots of land) help set up parking areas with outdoor bathrooms/showers (for people living in their cars). Alot of things can be done but gov't rather pay millions to management to figure this out.

If more people would help the homeless people it wouldn’t get to this level , it doesn’t have to be like this , why can’t people give a little

"he dreams of going home to Stoney plane." that's like 5 mins outside of the city lol he can catch the bus.

What the hell has happened to Canada? The( poverty pimp industry) is alive and well in Canada. I remember back in the 70s all around the downtown core of most Canadian cities there were rooming houses, flop houses, light housekeeping rooms, even winos had a place to live.These humble homes were torn down for unaffordabe condos. I hope that lady can get her diary published, maybe the poverty pimp industry can help.

Our stories are varied and always different. [Most] seem to share common ground in drugs and booze, but some (mine) are stories of intentional displacement by policy.

its unbelieveable to me how much avail for free dr ug use and drug even now in Bc,. i never thought i would live to see the govt supply anything like this!! im a recovering addict myself, so i know the choke hold it has on a person. Sublocade is what saves my life. why aint the govt giving them that instead of anything else! ?? people think their jobs wont be gone. and they wont ever be in position like that! rude awakening coming for many!!! Tahoe.

So Kimberly got housing, yes it’s not ideal but it’s a step in the right direction. So why now has she still not went job searching. Maybe if she got herself a job instead of spending her days inside a statue, more options would be available to her. At the end of the day, you have to want to help yourself. You can’t rely on other Canadians to make your living for you, that’s called enabling.

I grew up in Edmonton during the 70s-80s. This was unheard of. Sure, we had a little bit, but not like this.

Meanwhile, Sohi is the highest paid Mayor in Canada. He gets an annual salary that is higher than the Premier of Alberta. Shame on Edmonton's Mayor Sohi.

It’s was a lot different in 2007-10 then it is now their wasn’t tents all over the place and their wear shelters to sleep at.

Someone please ask Global News this question..When Canadians work lets say 20yrs or more and the person passes away..What's happens to their tax dollars that they paid into the system go..And what does the Canadian government do with the taxes you paid all those years

I am native. No support or anything education and no knowledge of modern society. I came here in 2008. Thrown onto the streets of deadmonton. After a month, I got a job and an apartment. J was arrested many times for being native and lost my house and job and had to start all over. Over and over. The help I got from the homeless was enough to thrive. They know what to do to survive. I met a group of native man and showed them that theh are superior to the white man and they went homeless to business owners in 2 years. I am now a home owner and a business owner. I have made young natuve people go from homeless to business owners. You can interview them and make a movie about them.

Homeless when it's 35below outside. Canada has outdone itself again...

ruthless over there

That's all where many will become.

Moved from winnipeg to Edmonton and back bc its literaly the same 😂😂

Why isn’t Jason Nixon responding to this?

If you leave out the homeless people that don't deserve any special help, then there really isnt a homeless problem in canada. Plain and simple.

It's very hard to get ahead if you don't work and use drugs. And stfu anyone who is about to say something. Is what it is

ПОЧЕМУ в "НИЩЕЙ" России НЕТ такого количества БЕЗдомных,и их можно встретить с огромным трудом и придётся поискать?!

Edmonton has poor services for the homeless, especially for women.I know because I was homeless here.

Edmonton is far cheaper for rent than any city in Canada. Winnipeg might be cheaper.

That woman blaming the drugs rotting her flesh on a spider bite🙈

This is what Canada has become and was in process for a number of years. Putting our most vulnerable Canadians last

SO...FREAKING...SAD....EVERYBODY deserves to have shelter, food, warmth....EVERYBODY!💔💔💔

Lol, they are looking for stability while doing drugs?

Cool now what ? I'm pretty sure the good moral people at this news station have fixed these people's problems

ALMOST a great piece. Ole Kimberley, you show her getting housing(which is awesome), show her drawing, writing, doing whatever that is to her hair, buy look for a job?? God forbid!!🙄. And again just so disappointing, I feel like showing her filling out applications or going on an interview towards the end would have totally changed the tone for the better.

They should have moved Chinese 🇨🇳 Xi to stay with the homeless people since he's been talking about them a lot.

its not so much an urge, as it is a placebo for dealing with real-life problems.

Trudeau is getting his big raise in a week cause he does such a good job

We need to stop enabling people like this. We are taking money from the middle class and throwing it into the burn pit of addiction.

She can come live with me and my husband until she gets on her feet All I need is help with the power bill How do I get in touch with the lady who found a wig???❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ Kimberly if you'd like some peace I live in a very rural area right by a big lake Hardly any other people here Town of 600

By grace of God go i

Welcome to modern Canada !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you all for Welcoming all unwanted people on board !!!!!!!!!!!!!! We need more Ukrainians here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Surviving Trudeau.

I wonder what happened to Troy and Leanne...🥺

I live in a small town a few hours away from Edmonton. Last summer a bus of homeless people showed up . We dont have any infrastructure or programs to help them at all. So in between our town scrambling to try to help, crime rate has risen significantly. Now the the residents are being harrassed and robbed, they are taking a defensive approach and no longer want to help the homeless. Its also has brought more fire hazards :(