Government and Police Implement Street Church Proposal Ideas

December 1, 2010 Artur Pawlowski

We are pleased to announce the Government of Alberta started to implement some of Street Church’s proposals relating to how to resolve issues surrounding the ongoing crisis of homelessness in our province. The proposal was first submitted to Calgary City officials and the police department in 2008 and later submitted personally to the current Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, after his appointment in 2010, Mr. Jonathan Denis. Mr. Denis, who is Street Church’s former attorney with Miller Thomson, received the document and a few months later announced that some of the proposals, including an ID card for the homeless will be implemented.

“I am very happy that the government has, by implementing these suggestions, acknowledged that we are a part of the solution, rather than the problem. After working years, face to face, with the crisis of homelessness, we have first hand knowledge of what the problems facing the homeless are and also what the simplest and most cost effective solutions are. I hope that this is just the beginning of a healthy and long term relationship between Street Church Ministries and the office of Housing and Urban Affairs, to help as many lives as possible”, stated Artur Pawlowski lead pastor of Street Church Ministries.

We are also happy to announce that the police department has followed suit and has implemented suggestions from our proposal on how to manage the issue of the mentally ill in the homeless population. The police have taken a new position to step up their efforts in assisting, rather than punishing, the mentally ill homeless, to find the resources and programs they need to move forward in the right direction, from vagrancy to stable and contributing citizenship.

Street Church is still looking forward to the implementation of the remaining suggestions, that will greatly decrease and cost effectively address the issues facing the homeless. To read the full proposal submitted to government officials, click the following link – http://streetchurch.ca/index.php/20080725235/Letters/Churches-and-Politicians/A-Realistic-Tangible-and-Cost-Effective-Solution-to-the-Homelessness-Problem-in-Calgary.html.

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