Handful of homeless run up hefty city tab
By CHRIS KITCHING | Winnipeg Sun
Provincial and city authorities are spending millions of dollars on 38 chronic street people who are repeatedly transported to and lodged at Winnipeg hospitals and an inner-city drunk tank.
The 38 were responsible for 1,066 calls for service between January 2006 and May 2007.
One man was taken to hospital 186 times in a 17-month period and cost the system about $250,000 in manpower and equipment expenses, a city official said yesterday.
The figures were a surprise to city hall's protection and community services committee, which heard a presentation from two Winnipeg police officers yesterday. The committee wants to identify ways to curb costs and prevent resources from being tied up.
"Our police and paramedic services are not set up to be a social service agency," said committee chair Coun. Gord Steeves. "It's way too expensive and you're never going to see people heal themselves if healing is, in fact, possible."
He suggests chronic offenders be involuntarily put into long-term, supervised care.
Most chronic offenders are in a state of constant intoxication due to drinking or sniffing, and return to hospital or the Main Street Project detox centre within hours of their last visit to sober up, said Const. Jen Zeglen, a co-ordinator of Project Breakaway, which identifies street people and tries to help them.
Once they're back on the street, the cycle resumes. They're often found passed out in bus shelters or on the street. Some are picked up by police or paramedics up to three times a day for public intoxication, aggressive behaviour or petty crimes.
Partners of Project Breakaway -- including police, Manitoba Justice and social agencies -- hit roadblocks when they try to direct clients to programs.
A person can go to a treatment or housing facility only if he or she consents or is ordered by the courts following an arrest or conviction.
There is no provincial law to force a person to attend. Most chronic offenders cannot be detained under the Mental Health Act, Zeglen said.
"From our perspective, financially, it is really hurting our service," Steeves said.
CARING COSTS
Project Breakaway facts and figures:
- Thirty-eight chronic offenders were responsible for 1,066 calls for service -- 570 calls under the Intoxicated Persons Detention Act, 447 disturbances or medical calls, and 49 arrests
- Each IPDA call costs Winnipeg police $150/hr for every two-officer unit
- One man, considered the worst offender, went to hospital 186 times with those visits totalling $119,000, not including police manpower costs or the Main Street Project's lodging fee of $35
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