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I have been here in San Jose for the past week. The visible poverty, squalor and homelessness is appalling. What I find equally appalling is that I don´t seem to hear or read anything about what´s really happening with a lot of these people. I have been reading La nacion almost daily and there is no mention of these people anywhere in these pages. Do the social services in Costa Rica apply to these people? If not, I´d like to know why. Are any of the churches doing anything? Any volunteer or outreach groups? Does anyone have any information for me. As some of you in this forum know I do antipoverty work in Vancouver and I am here in Costa Rica, as well as for vacation, to gather some information.
Vancouver is one of the most pristine cities in all of North America and one of the cleanest in the world. It is simply not a valid comparison to San Jose. In fact, Vancouver is rated the #1 cleanest city outside of northern Europe. There is very little poverty in Vancouver as a percentage of the total population. The same is true with Seattle (my resdidence for now) as far as large cities go in North America. The poverty in San Jose is fractional compared to the poverty in Honduras or Haiti,virtually every country in Africa, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Peru, Equador, Mexico City, Sao Paolo, Manila, Jakarta, North Vietnam, North Korea or even Moscow. There is no denying poverty is present, but you will note over time that the people are generally happy. I have seen much worse squalor in in Cairo, Detroit, Miami or any major city in the “southern” U.S. Intersting note that Costa Rica has virtually the same social services structure as Canada.
If you read the Spanish news you would see regular columns on drug addicted youths and others living on the street.
What’s being done about it? There are many charitable and volunteer organizations that do help but how effective are they and how much are they able to help? I do not know…
And I hate to be cavalier about it but there will always be a small percentage of people that just don’t want help.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comIn June 2007 – “Canada’s homeless population is somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 people, while another 1.7 million residents struggle with “housing affordability issues,” says an analysis of the latest research on shelter.” [ http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/06/26/shelter.html ]
According to [ http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_tot_pop-people-total-population ] Canada has a population of about 33,098,932 which means that the homeless make up about .75% of the population
The same source gives the population of a far poorer country Costa Rica as 4,075,261 which means that if we used the same homeless percentage as Canada we would have about 3,056 on the streets.
Back to Vancouver:
“I would say I saw 20x the amount of homeless than I saw in New York. ”
“While Vancouver is undeniably pretty from a distance, up close it has become an appalling stew of junkies, beggars and scavengers that is unrivalled in the developed world. ”
“I know it is a problem in all big cities, but Vancouver seems to have an overabundance of beggars and street people. There is a big drug problem (heroin) and it has made for a big homeless population.”
“Panhandlers, beggars, homeless – whatever you want to call them – they’re a part of Vancouver life. “
“Another local warning I would say, not really a danger but Vancouver has a lot of homeless beggars that parole the streets.”
“The last count, conducted in 2005, showed an increase of 235% in the number of Vancouver area homeless since 2002. In that 2005 count, it was found that the number of people living on the streets in Vancouver was over 2200. Most agree that this is a very conservative estimate and that the actual number of homeless in Vancouver is much higher.” [ http://homelessnation.org/en/node/8065 ]
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comHi
I’ve lived in the West End in Vancouver for 23 years up to last fall and I can tell you from experience that the problems with poverty in the lower EastSide and for that matter many parts of the city is appalling and has increased year after year. However when you read our newspapers there you will see very, very little mention of it.
Hi rise apartments have displaced hundreds of lower income people and families, there are mentally handicapped people left to there own decision making as the current government has closed many facilities or chooses not to fund new ones.
I’ve been very fortunate to have lived for a few months each year in many differant countries around the world and am hard pressed to remember anywhere that absolute affluance was contrasted with such poverty on its doorstep as in Vancouver.
Enough said.
Thanks.
JMichaelInstead of comparing homelessness in various cities, let’s list a number of helping groups from both inside and outside Costa Rica. Volunteers from Canada, U.S.A. and Costa Rica help out through World Vision ‘Vision Mundial’. ARCR has a division of helpers, the Canadian Club helps out where they can, The Woman’s association help, There is an S.O.S. children’s village in Tres Rios. All churches have collection boxes and favourite charities. Those are the ones that I have found and used to help relieve my ‘guilt’ feelings for having more that some.I’m sure that a list of volunteer groups is available through ARCR, if you are interested.
The health system has waiting lines, but is available to all.
No one freezes to death on the streets of San Jose!Very good replies so far… as to a small percentage of homeless people not wanting help, I would prefer to hear their own story before I make this kind of judgment. As for no one freezing to death on the street in Costa Rica, this is likely true. However, lacking a home also creates other kinds of problems and is one of the most fundamental destabilizing experiences one can endure…been there, done that. Does anyone have any links available for me about affordable housing in Costa Rica. Does this sort of thing exist here. Are there huge waiting lists. What is the welfare system like. Is help equally available to all Ticos who need it. Can they survive on government assistance. What is available as well in the way of mental health supports, employment and vocational training. And treatment for addictions.
As for the situation in Vancouver, yes our homelessness is egregious. This only became a problem during the nineties and onward as neo’liberal economic policies became the global norm. In order to accommodate the demands of the World Bank and the IMF our own government in Canada, as has happened elsewhere, slashed spending on education, health, and social services programs, virtually turning thousands out onto the streets. I experienced homelessness myself for a while in the late ´90´s because of these changes, and fortunately I´m back on my feet again and working in the mental health field. I also put in close to two years recently working in a homeless shelter and in meal programs for homeless adults and youth in Vancouver, so you could say I have frontline experience here.First let me say that I admire people like you that are willing to take the time to help people in need. I do not know of any shelters where one can get food but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
There are probably culture differences that exist between the situation in Costa Rica and what you may be used to. Beggers on the streets are welcomed (I can’t find the right way to say it) by many Costa Ricans. They take the time to dig into their pockets and share a bit of change and go about their way as in “that’s that, it could be me some day” sort of attitude. It’s sort of taken as the norm and many, by that I mean a lot more than in North America, are willing to give a little on the spot. In North America, my impression is that people turn their heads, more so than they do in Costa Rica.
Maybe we should distinguish between the truly homeless and the many thousands of people who still “lay claim” to a piece of land and build their shelter from scrap materials. These places exist along nearly every river that goes through San Jose and there are many rivers like that. When Scott said that some people do not want any help, I thought of these people who suffer damages from Mother Nature be it floods or landslides and refuse to leave. I have seen a few television interviews to this effect. They have established communities and some do not want to give this up, leaving their friends behind.
Speaking of different cultures, I think North Americans move house an average of 30 or 40 times in their lifetimes. I don’t know exactly, but I if I had to guess what it would be for Costa Ricans, I would say less than 10. How is this relevant? Not sure but I’m leaving it in anyway.
All of this is coming from someone just looking from the outside in, although quite of few years of it, so take it for what it’s worth.
You might try googling Gail Nystrom and see what sort of work she has done and is still doing.
Jon
This is how we are now helping the poor in the United States:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uynPB_NNrug
and
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08082008/watch2.html
After I watched this program, I was truly sick to my stomach that I am a citizen of the United States, but hey, it is a good business model.
Thanks,
Tom in Portland on a budget.Oh god grow up,
If you think that Costa Rica has poverty you really need to get out more, go north to Nica land or come south to where I am at in Paraguay. The world is full of poverty and you will never be able to stop it! It is a fact of life!
Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. Or to paraphrase Margaret Mead, no significant changes in any society have ever occured without the dedicated work of a small group of dedicated individuals. In fact, that is usually the only way that change comes about. Whether we live in Canada, Costa Rica, Paraguay or Nicaragua, change can and will come, but it begins with each one of us.
That is a way to look at it through rose colored glasses! You can send as many community activist or bible thumping missionary’s out to the poor little countries like Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras or any African country and try to eradicate poverty but some day you will have to wake up and look at the world as it is! Costa Rica is at the top of the heap when it comes to less people in poverty in Central America how ever you will always have families out on the streets begging. If you think you will be able to change that you will be at a disappointment, you will also be looked as just another gringo trying to change Costa Rica.
You don’t know how many times me and my wife have seen Christian bible thumpers come to Costa Rica and think they are doing the world a great thing by putting a roof on a ticos house. Its embarrassing when the ticos sit back and laugh at them.
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