NLHC bans kid stuff, but won’t clean up debris: tenant
Behind one woman’s Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corp. (NLHC) unit on Empire Avenue in St. John’s, there are large steel poles that have been ripped from the ground with their concrete bases attached and left lying there for several months.
This, said resident Jess Burton, flies in the face of the reasoning behind a ban on trampolines and pools imposed by NLHC as a safety/liability policy.
The tall poles previously held clotheslines, and according to Burton they were ripped up in the fall of 2017 by workers trying to get at underground infrastructure.
They were never reinstalled or hauled away.
Also nearby her unit is a broken post holding chains as a form of guardrail, and a mound of rusty, discarded items under a bench.
Burton said she reported the issues to NLHC a couple of times. She said at least one neighbour has also reported it.
Down over the bank, Burton noted a rock and wire retaining area has been beaten up by a plow, exposing dangerous shards of metal.
All of those hazards, Burton said, are far worse than allowing residents to provide aboveground pools or trampolines for their children, which are not allowed because NLHC fears someone could get hurt.
The garbage, which contains rusty metal, has been around since 2016, Burton said, and she has reported it to workers mowing lawns on a number of occasions, asking them to clean it up.
Last month, The Telegram published a story about Hollie Delacey, who lives in NLHC units near Blackmarsh and Jensen Camp roads.
Delacey, a mother of three, went public to The Telegram about the NLHC ban on trampolines, pools and fire pits, as she had previously been allowed to have them with fencing and adherence to city regulations, but was told she couldn’t bring any of it out this summer after she renewed her lease in December.
Despite the media buzz after The Telegram story ran, the ban has not been lifted.
One upset NLHC tenant, Samantha Churchill, started a petition on Change.org, saying, “Basically it’s taking away our free rights. I got a new pool a couple days ago, before I found out about the ban. And I was devastated.”
The petition has been signed by 117 people.
Meanwhile, Burton said the Empire Avenue housing is a hard place to be a young mother.
“It really isn’t kid friendly at all,” she said.
“I can’t wrap my head around why kids are put in these units.”
While there is a nearby park off Hoyles Avenue, Burton has to do a needle sweep when she takes her kids there, as she’s found needles presumably discarded by intravenous drug users.
“This summer I am not allowed to have a pool or trampoline for my children, and the excuse for that is the worry of their safety and the worry of being sued after any injuries occur,” Burton said, noting the debris and the general layout of the area. “My main problem with this is that the decision-makers of Newfoundland Housing clearly do not pay any attention to the conditions these children are already living in. My children have one area they can play in, a small, unfenced lawn between my home and the busy street of Empire Avenue. The only thing keeping them from the road is a chain attached to wooden poles. At the ages of two and four, these aren’t exactly safe conditions.”
The NLHC policy came about after the NLHC conducted a jurisdictional review of other social housing policies across the country and got a legal opinion on the matter, the NLHC has stated.
Wading pools are allowed if there is adult supervision, and they must be immediately emptied after use.
After The Telegram contacted the NLHC about the dangerous debris Wednesday, a spokeswoman said arrangements are being made for the garbage and the broken park bench to be removed from the site, as soon as possible.
The NLHC said the clothesline posts on the ground had been uprooted last year in order to gain access to underground oil tanks, which were removed. The intent was to reinstate the posts for future use. However, the NLHC will also remove these posts and complete an assessment of all the clotheslines in the area.
“Addressing health and safety concerns is a priority for NLHC and residents can certainly contact us, if they see something that needs to be addressed,” the statement said.