What a typical smug response. Some of us not working are disabled or elderly, we need to be near our doctors and medical care, and have as much right as anyone to friends and sense of community. Distance is that much greater for those of us with mobility issues and no easy transportation. The disabled and elderly are given just as little as other welfare recipients to get by on. Plenty of countries in the prosperous parts of the world have managed a safety net and a market driven economy. You'd think it would be bad for business to have people hungry on the streets.

I don't think this is a smug response at all. The writer is not suggesting that anyone be displaced so that they would not be near medical care. Many of us who are not homeless have to deal with relocation due to work or medical needs.
Of course there must be programs that will assist the sick to be near medical care, but the fact is that land is more affordable out of the city. Why not work together to get everyone's needs met? Surely a nicer community could be built and developed for the homeless where they feel " safe", transportation for medical needs are provided, or even better, the medical community comes to their community.

The fact is that due to the property values driven by the market, the homeless would probably get something better in the outskirts as the initial outlay for property would be less expensive

I agree it is bad for business to have homelessness, but that doesn't mean that the homeless will get their needs met. They may just get driven out of that area, lets work together to get them an area where their needs are met and the actual community provides a higher standard than what they are now receiving I don't think it would be too hard to improve on what they are currently have.

'In fact as part of its Inner-City Commitments the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee guarantees to: Protect rental-housing stock to ensure no residents are displaced, evicted, made homeless or face unreasonable increases in rent as a result of the Games.'

The point of the article was to highlight the impact of the Olympics on the homeless. The area in question was a home to a particular group of people, among them lots of poor people. They are now losing their homes despite the promises of VOOC.

I've got to agree with the other posters - I'm sure they have ample medical facilities outside those premium rent areas. Granted you may want the choice of area to live in, but like able bodied people, we can't have everything we want without paying for it.

"If they are not employed, the relocation shouldn't be the end of the world."

Are you serious?
Homelessness isn't simply living on the streets. There are countless other factors that come so strongly into play. I suggest you take a nice stroll through Hastings, and you'll surely see that these people are suffering with much more then sleeping discomfort.

Many are lethally addicted to drugs, and before you can think that all addicts are bad people, consider what circumstances they may have been in that led to this life for them.

Due to closure of mental health institutes, helpless people were tossed to the streets to fend for themselves, being mentally ill, that's no easy task.

I can only imagine the oppressive and challenging fight they must endure everyday.Not to mention some living with physical disablities or the elderly.

All these people laden with horrors of death,thievery,rape,mnemonia,...this tragic list can go on forever.

That being said, how can one expect the handicapped,the insane,or simply the elderly to pick up there meager belongings from the sidewalk and skip off to another city?
Even if by some miracle this is possible, the issue of homelessness remains unsolved..instead it's to become a travelling concern. The solution is not to put them on wheels, but to shelter with roofs, to feed with meals, to heal with medicine, and most of all...help with compassion.

Of course, not everyone can be saved, not everyone wants to be saved and maybe some don't deserve it. But people are people no matter where they reside, and everyone deserves the chance.

I must say, the attitudes and approach that i see towards social issues like these are appalling. Being a teenager, it is frightening to me the detachment exeplified by some adults and the lack of responsibility on our governments part is pathetic.

It's time to stop walking around the homeless, and start walking with them.

I agree with your comments. We should be more concerned with the health and well-being of the people in our cities then the image we portray to the people visiting our city.

I believe that this is just a selfish thing for our city to do and we should be helping them not just picking them up and moving them to a different city.

This is not as simple as it seems. On one hand, the City should help its most disadvantaged citizens. On the other hand, by projecting a good image, it attracts tourists and outside businesses, which then increase the wealth of the city, helping to pay for its poorest people.

the olympics will pay for social services? but who will pay for the olympics?
i'm not sure the money coming in from the olympics will be used to help the poor; and investing that same amount of initial capital into providing basic housing and services might be more useful.

in addition, given that many homeless people are not just economically disadvantaged but hit dually because their poverty overlaps with being from a disadvantaged cultural community (e.g. Aboriginal),circuses like the olympics only make the gap between the haves and havenots bigger!

Well, whoever pays for the Olympics it wont be you or your friends, but the corporations and the tax payers.

Perhaps people should have homes.