The Martlet

Chris Johnson wants to set the public’s view of poverty and homelessness straight — and he plans to do it through a book.

Johnson, who is living in poverty himself and has seen a variety of angles on the issue, is looking for funding that will enable him to write a book titled A Poverty of Perception.

Johnson has worked on numerous projects related to homelessness and poverty, including the Committee to End Homelessness, the Temporary Autonomous Shelter Collective and the Calgary Drop-In Centre. He also ran for mayor of Langford in the last municipal election.

“I point these things out when I talk about my experience of poverty because I’ve been homeless, have worked at a homeless shelter, and I’ve been part of grassroots anti-poverty organizing,” says Johnson.

The book will focus less on life in poverty and more about what will be done to solve it and how the public conceptualizes the issue. “Essentially, it’s about perceptions of poverty — not just of stereotypes and prejudice that people might have in the public, but also the way that activists and policy makers frame the concept — and how that framework determines the responses,” says Johnson. “My own research as an activist in the last four years into different poverty reduction plans and ideas.”

Johnson says he will touch on his own experiences, but would rather stay away from a personal focus.

“I’m going to talk a little about my experiences just for a bit of context and to personalize it a bit, but I’m going to stray away from the this-is-what-poverty-looks-like kind of thing. It’s more for people who are already sort of interested in poverty — it’s not a way to sort of make people think poverty is more important than they already do,” says Johnson. “It’s hard to shift those perspectives and certain understandings.”

After keeping an eye on Victoria’s 2008 promise to end homelessness within ten years, Johnson decided to write the book after he failed to see any results.

“I’ve been following municipal politics here and learning about the ten year plans to end homelessness, which Victoria said in 2008 that there was a plan to end homelessness — so I’ve kind of been looking into what that entails,” he says.

Part of the problem is in the way the public sees poverty and homelessness.

“There’s no real analysis in the public eye of what ending homelessness would look like — it’s not really questioned, so it’s just a way of dissecting and deconstructing these various plans that are just taken for granted by the average person,” says Johnson.

Is it an unrealistic goal?

“For a few years [Victoria] was saying that they were going to end homelessness and one of the things that I’ve been trying to point out is that you can’t just end homelessness, especially in a municipality. You can’t end homelessness without ending poverty, and perhaps you can’t end poverty without ending capitalism either,” says Johnson.

In fact, he suggests that progress may be reversing.

“There’s just a committee who have a few good ideas about ending chronic homelessness, and so during the election campaign there was talk about ending chronic homelessness — so there’s a shift in language happening that is not really getting talked about or covered. They’re sort of backtracking on their promise to end homelessness, which we always knew was sort of impossible, and that shift to ending chronic homelessness is more possible,” says Johnson.

Johnson has been quietly fundraising for two weeks and has made $20 so far, but he’s hoping to reach a goal closer to $10 000.

“I’m also looking for work, but if I could get paid to write, that would be ideal. I plan to self-publish as well, which would cost a few thousand [dollars], just depending,” he says. “I’m hoping to get more of a plan together — I think just starting the fundraising page was a way for me to solidify that this is what I’m actually doing.”

If you want to donate to Johnson’s cause or learn more about what he’ll be writing about, visit: www.gofundme.com/cva3c or bullsheet.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/frameworks-for-perceiving-and-addressing-poverty/