Dr. Eric Weissman, a professor at the University of New Brunswick’s Saint John campus, has personal experience with homelessness and substance misuse.
Weissman is using that experience to advocate for affordable housing options and harm reduction practices in New Brunswick.
“We’re in a transitional moment and the experimentation of the different styles of housing, like building granny units, allowing people to build units in their backyards or laneways,” Weissman said in an interview.
“These are things people are doing in Canada to increase the housing simply. They have to change the laws and the zoning laws that prevent people from experimenting.”
The Toronto native began his artistic career in the 1980s, a time when drugs played a significant role in the social consciousness of the city.
“I lived in downtown Toronto and pretty much it was something that people did,” Weissman said in an interview with our newsroom.
“I ended up doing my BA, did an HBA. in social anthropology, did a master’s, was doing research, started a PhD and throughout all of that, in order to sustain that incredible work experience, I was smoking a lot of drugs and snorting a lot of drugs.”
Initially, his close circle doubted his struggles, but by 1987, he left school for a life of drugs and alcohol, struggling to pay rent, depending on welfare and facing eviction five times.
Between 1990 and 1994, events led him to open after-hours bars, where he often slept on pool tables. His sister found him in a rooming house with drug users, urging him to seek help. With the help of his sister, he entered rehab in 1995 through 1996 under a doctor’s care.
With a strong grasp of the struggles people encounter in their quest for safe and stable housing, Weissman recognizes its vital role in addressing broader health issues and improving community well-being.
He has been pioneering a lived-experience scholarship model to explore homelessness, housing, mental health, and substance use in urban areas of Canada and the U.S.
His academic journey started in 1999 at tent camps, including Toronto’s Tent City, and he briefly resided at Dignity Village, a city-recognized legal encampment of an estimated 60 homeless people in Portland, Ore., where he conducted research for his dissertation at Concordia University in Montreal.
In 2018, he moved to Saint John, where he has been actively involved in advocating for affordable housing options and harm reduction practices.
Weissman said he appreciates the provincial government’s acknowledgement of the housing crisis, but he urges governments to explore a variety of strategies instead of relying on a singular approach.
This exploration should encompass shelter expansions, affordable bachelor housing, detoxification clinics and rent control measures.
Most critically, he said, the establishment of safe injection sites with a reliable drug supply must be taken into account.
“The more money you put into a place, the better it turns out,” Weissman added.
