Mechanicsville residents air concerns about supportive housing project
John Howard Society plans 36-unit building on Carruthers Street
By Melissa Murray
Ottawa West News, Apr 14, 2016
About 50 people attended a community information session about a new supportive housing development on Carruthers Street Monday night.
The building will be the new home for men and women who have been homeless for six months or more.
The development, proposed by the John Howard Society, a not-for-profit organization best known locally for building halfway houses, will be located at 55-59 Carruthers Ave. It will be a five-storey, 36-unit residential building.
Residents will have access to 24/7 supports, including employment programs, meal prep, literacy, support groups and more. Potential residents are identified through the emergency shelter system.
“I’ll be the first to recognize the John Howard Society and affordable housing raise a lot of fears and concerns,” said Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper to start the meeting.
Those fears included making Mechanicsville a ghetto, decreasing house values and attracting more drugs and crime to the area.
“It’s unfair the way this bombshell has been dropped on us,” said local resident Maureen McDonald.
Monday was the first community meeting about the development after the John Howard Society was named the successful applicant for a supportive housing project in December, fitting with the city’s 10-year housing and homelessness plan.
“How can you keep it from us? We live here,” McDonald said.
She added the neighbourhood already has a 20-unit emergency family shelter on Forward Avenue, and the Youth Services Bureau has a 19-unit residential building on Carruthers.
“How much more can you fit in these six blocks? I’ll tell you I’m very peeved off.”
Residents asked questions about who would be staying in the supportive housing building, and about risk to the neighbourhood and children. A short presentation outlined that the tenants will be men and women with a mix of needs. Some could struggle with mental health and addictions problems, acquired brain injuries or developmental delays.
“Telling us the tenants will have high and low needs doesn’t tell us anything,” said Alex Johnston, who lives on Burnside Avenue.
Don Wadel, executive director of the Ottawa John Howard Society, said there’s a misconception about who will live in the building.
“Most think of what we do as being related to the criminal justice system,” Wadel said, of the John Howard Society’s three halfway houses in Ottawa.
“These are people in the community already, not people coming out of prison,” he said.
A number of residents raised concerns about other neighbourhoods pulling their weight when it comes to providing social services and affordable housing.
Johnston also raised concerns about having a balance of housing for all socioeconomic backgrounds – especially the middle class – and not using all available land for low-income housing or high-end development.
“One of my frustrations is a lot of current development is high-end,” said Johnston.
“We are creating a doughnut here,” he said of options for the middle class.
Two residents of Gardener Street, in Vanier, where the John Howard Society has recently opened a supportive housing building, also attended the meeting.
“We went through the same thing that you are right now,” Sandra Chatterton said.
“We went through the fears that we would be robbed or raped … but let me cut to the chase and say these men are so much better than students,” she said to a room filled with laughter.
“These men are broken, shy and really nice,” Chatterton said, her voice cracking. “They’re my neighbours, and they haven’t even lived here a year.”
After the meeting, Bob Pierce said residents near the Vanier location were just as frustrated as those in Mechanicsville now, but added the tenants of the supportive housing building fit in the neighbourhood.
“They’re ours,” he said.
Demolition of the existing buildings on Carruthers Street is expected in the next couple of months. The site also requires soil remediation before any construction can begin. The John Howard Society will have to apply for a minor variance to allow for seven underground parking spaces.
The units inside will be self-contained and about 27 square metres in size, with a private bathroom and kitchen area.
This is one of eight proposals approved by city council in the last five years, including Shepherd’s of Good Home on Merivale, Cornerstone on Booth, and the John Howard Society on Summerville, Cambridge and Gardiner.
According to city documents, about 100,000 residents in Ottawa (or 40,000 households) live in poverty. Last year alone, 6,800 individuals stayed in emergency shelters.
http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/n...using-project/
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