See You In the Neighborhood

Last week I met a handful of families, couples and singles who have to vacate their homes by December 15. The issue is mold, and a property owner who can’t or won’t take steps to properly fix the mold. I stood in the hallways of this building for a few hours with folks from a few other agencies and knocked on doors with a health and safety representative. They gave bad news, we gave good news. As agencies we were there to help, to tell people that we can offer support over the next few weeks as they hurry to find another place to live before Christmas. I have to say, I had mixed feelings about offering this good news. I was certainly happy that we (and these other agencies) can step in to help, but I also wonder how their community can respond. Sometimes, it seems, we rely too much on a systematic response and we don’t offer a human response. When can we (as communities and individuals) step in and help someone in need?

I need to make a confession. I don’t know many of my neighbors. I live in a condominium community in the SW of Calgary; my complex is set up as stacked townhouses, which means I have quite a few neighbors. In fact my garage is surrounded by about 9 other garages. I bought my house about a year ago and the couple who lives above me has lived there for about 6 months. Last week was the first time I’ve ever spoke to the neighbor that I have been parking next to for all that time. Her name is June and she is a lovely person. I’ve been missing out on the opportunity to know her for months now, and it seems like they might just be the type of people I’d want to know when I lock myself out of my house (which has happened 3 times now…) or when I need to complain about the condo board or need to borrow sugar… although more often I run out of olive oil. And perhaps I’m just the type of person that has something to offer them as well!

For me, these two thoughts are connected because I realized that I’m not making myself available to my own neighbors. If there is a senior citizen or new Canadian across the street at risk of losing their housing merely because of a language or technology barrier (a common reality), I can help! But, alas I haven’t met them, I don’t know them and they don’t know me. So I have a challenge for myself: to start making myself available to my neighbors. After all, perhaps there is some way I can offer support and justice to my neighbor, and perhaps a neighbor has something to offer me.


Peace