‘Your children will be safe’
People recovering from addiction reassure Simcoe residents worried about living near group home
Some Simcoe residents worry a plan to bring supportive housing for people recovering from drug addiction to their neighbourhood will invite crime and put their children at risk.
But participants in the Addiction Supportive Housing (ASH) program offered by the Holmes House detox centre say residents of Ashton Drive have nothing to fear.
The ASH program gives people who have completed a 21-day detox an affordable place to live for up to a year. Tenants receive addiction counselling and training that ranges from job skills and financial management to how to better manage their mental health.
“We’ve had a lot of success over the past 12 years,” Holmes House interim director Jennifer Edwards said during a public meeting at Simcoe town hall on March 5.
When people move into supportive housing “the addictions have been managed and counsellors are looking at rehabilitating people back into society,” Edwards explained.
“This program really helps get people back up on their feet.”
The eight-bed ASH program currently operates out of a former motel in downtown Simcoe. But with the lease at that location almost up, eyes turned to two empty semidetached homes on Ashton Drive owned by the Haldimand Norfolk Housing Corporation.
The three-bedroom townhouses need renovations to allow for four tenants in each, but Edwards told The Spectator the new location would offer communal living space for tenants to eat together and host games nights and birthday parties.
Tenants could also tend to the garden and use “huts” on the property for counselling sessions, spiritual gatherings, yoga and meditation.
“Recovery isn’t just about being clean from substances. It’s more about an all-encompassing life change,” Holmes House rehabilitation counsellor Kristen Sousa told The Spectator.
CEO Matt Bowen said having the housing corporation manage the ASH property will give the program a long-term, stable home and “provide a safe space that’s affordable for people post-addiction to receive the supports that they need.”
If someone relapses, Holmes House staff are available around the clock. And in an emergency, the housing corporation will also respond at all hours.
But in the 12 years the Canadian Mental Health Association has provided rent supplements for ASH tenants in Norfolk, interim executive director John Ranger said the police have not been needed and there have been no complaints from neighbours.
Participants “are very much focused on their future and making the next steps in their life, and taking advantage of this very good opportunity” to “stabilize” their recovery, Ranger said during the public hearing into the housing corporation’s request to rezone the property for use as a group home.
“They are clean (and) ready for that next step in their recovery phase,” Edwards added, noting tenants must pass regular drug tests and participate in all counselling sessions or face expulsion.
“That helps keep people accountable,” she said.
But some area residents remain skeptical.
Samantha Thomas was one of several parents worried about having children interact with people recovering from addiction while walking to school or playing in the park across the street from the proposed ASH site.
“Oakwood (Avenue) and Ashton (Drive) are full of kids. How do we protect them?” Thomas said.
“I feel like I’m going to be scared of my kids going outside. What if these people relapse? What if there’s police, ambulance? Are these things that our kids should be watching?”
Residents also expressed concern about increased traffic on the sidewalk-free street and a lack of parking should eight tenants occupy the corner-lot property.
“This is currently a fairly desirable residential neighbourhood of mainly seniors and young families. This type of rezoning will begin to destroy our quality of life,” Rick Purchase said.
Kailey Holmes, who completed the addictions supportive housing program, reassured residents of the strict rules ASH tenants must follow.
“You’re not allowed to use (drugs) or drink, and if you do, you’re discharged right away,” said Holmes, who now lives in the Ashton Drive area with her two young children. She called the plan to relocate ASH to her neighbourhood “a wonderful thing.”
“I’m 100 per cent behind it,” Holmes said. “I have seen miracles come from this program.”
People recovering from addiction pose no safety threat, fellow ASH alumnus Chris Morrison told councillors and the 30-odd spectators in the gallery.
Morrison “graduated” from ASH after being treated for drug addiction at Holmes House in 2016. The Simcoe resident went back to school and now works as an addictions counsellor.
“This program saved my life,” Morrison said. “(ASH) looks for people that are looking to put both feet in recovery and gives those people a chance.”
Current ASH tenant Kendra Dearlove said she is “very thankful” to be living in supportive housing.
“Without this program, I wouldn’t be standing here before you. I probably wouldn’t be standing anymore,” Dearlove told the crowd.
When you join ASH, she continued, “you also enter into a family, and a lot of people that hold you accountable.”
Dearlove called the “stigma” toward people with addictions “totally understandable.”
“You guys are scared. It’s new,” she told residents.
“Your children will be safe. I promise you. People are highly vetted to be in this program, and they want to survive. They want to live.”
Sarah Page, Norfolk’s general manager of health and social services, appealed for compassion for residents in need.
“There are people battling addiction across all of our communities in all of our neighbourhoods in Norfolk County,” Page said at the meeting.
“I’m hoping that we just consider that we are trying to have space in all of our communities for all people.”
Planners will weigh the public comments before making a recommendation to council about the rezoning. If council approves the housing corporation’s request, the first ASH tenants could move in by mid-August.