Why I Hate Calgary Sometimes

Hundreds of Greenview residents irate over hotel conversion to low income housing

This infuriates me. I am so sick of people making ignorant and discriminatory statements with little education regarding the issue. I'm sorry, but this is fucking ridiculous.

In case you don't want to read the entire article... essentially it is saying that community members are not happy with a proposal to turn a deserted hotel into a low-income housing development. Here are some of their statements regarding the issue:

 "How can I guarantee I am not going to find crack pipes in the park?"
"Can you guarantee my children are not going to see someone sucking on their pipe? These people will kill you for 40 dollars."
"We are going to have people peeing on our lawns"
People are also concerned about "property values, crime rates, drug and alcohol abuse and the screening process for potential renters".

People CLAPPED after these statements. 

Okay seriously... how the fuck can you even respond to something like this? These statements are ill-informed and utterly ridiculous. I'm so shocked that I can barely articulate a response.

K first off, low income housing is not a half-way house!
Low income housing is for the working-poor AKA people who can't afford the ridiculous amount of money it costs to rent in today's economy. A lot of the people are EDUCATED (something these residents don't appear to be) and are just having trouble finding employment. Many of these people have been laid off of high-paying jobs. They are average, hard-working people who have fallen on tough times and need a little help to get their foot back in the door.

Essentially, as of right now, it could be someone just like ME living there. Currently, as a recent graduate with debt, I could be living into one of these housing developments and I promise I would not be "smoking my pipe", killing your children for "40 dollars" or "peeing on your lawn". If someone has a PLACE TO LIVE they will be using the toilets in their HOME. This could be these people if they ever find themselves on tough times. What happens if spouses get laid off and they have to settle for a low-paying job? Try making 9 dollars an hour and living on that. They are working jobs that only offer minimum wage and therefore have difficulty in a city that has such a high cost of living.

I'm not even going to get into the "property values" argument. Fuck their property values, you're helping people find a place to live. You're helping people live better lives. The article states that there is a waiting list of 4,000 people who are waiting for affordable housing in Calgary. That's ridiculously high. These are just the people who have applied! Who know that it is even an option!

However, with ill-informed residents like these people, it sadly wouldn't be an option. Shit like this drives me up the wall. Please, for the love of God, educate yourself before you make yourself look like a total idiot.