A well-established charitable organization that has successfully built supportive housing for 1,200 tenants in seven Southwestern Ontario communities, is eyeing a build in Sarnia but requires backing from Lambton County council and its bureaucrats to move forward. “We are open to expanding to Sarnia,” Julie Ryan of Indwell told nearly 100 people gathered Thursday to […]
A well-established charitable organization that has successfully built supportive housing for 1,200 tenants in seven Southwestern Ontario communities, is eyeing a build in Sarnia but requires backing from Lambton County council and its bureaucrats to move forward.
“We are open to expanding to Sarnia,” Julie Ryan of Indwell told nearly 100 people gathered Thursday to discuss how to help the unprecedented numbers of homeless people living on the streets in Sarnia-Lambton.
“I can’t say, yes we’re coming,” Ryan said. Indwell representatives have already established strong support from the local community, Bluewater Health and some city and county politicians.
“It’s moving along but the politicians and municipal staff need to be part of the conversation.”
Heather Martin, a Rotarian and housing advocate working with a grassroots group to build supportive housing in Sarnia, said she and her colleagues have met with Indwell several times and like Indwell’s approach to helping the hard-to-house.
“We are focused on engaging our community. We’ve started fundraising…to accumulate funds for building projects, and we’ve prompted Lambton County to put out seed funding for five organizations that want to build.” But it’s not nearly enough, Martin said.
“The message we need to give Lambton County is they can’t do it on their own. It’s a huge message and I don’t think it is quite there yet,” she said.
Lambton County council is responsible for social housing in Sarnia and the rest of the county.
It has earmarked millions of dollars for new affordable housing projects in the next 10 years, but the money is specifically for county-led projects, not projects that a charity like Indwell would build, explained Coun. Brian White who was at the meeting and is on both city council and is Lambton County’s deputy warden.
As one of the few politicians at the gathering, White was taken to task on several occasions concerning the county’s lack of engagement with Indwell.
“I think the political will is changing,” White told the crowd. “And I think the administration (bureaucrats) is coming along. I’m not being negative when I say that but the wheels turn slowly and it takes time to change direction.”
White said city council donated a portion of a downtown parking lot to the county for an affordable housing project.
“And there are other things we can do. The political will is shifting, partly because you’re all demanding the change.
“Keep demanding better of us,” White urged. The more pressure you put on certain councillors who have a whole other view of what poverty is, the better.”
He said he is meeting with Ministry of Health officials on Monday to discuss homelessness issues. Indwell requires provincial and municipal funding for its projects, as well as fundraising from the community.
White also said he believes county council should collect taxes specifically for affordable housing and not rely strictly on upper-tier funding that has to be used for county projects.
While those who are experiencing homelessness are more visible than ever, particularly in downtown Sarnia, and the need for supportive housing has never been greater, Lambton County is not able to “pivot” quickly, White said.
“We’re also facing a situation where the communication between the political and the administration isn’t all that clear,” he said. “I’m not blaming anybody. There’s just a lot of work to do and it’s not easy.”
Point Edward Mayor Bev Hand is also a county councillor and responded to White’s comments, saying the county is doing some things right.
The former Laurel Lea-St. Matthew’s church, in conjunction with the Inn of the Good Shepherd, has been rented by the county and provides 26 “overflow” shelter beds this winter, as well as a warm place during the day, Hand said.
“The county’s also looking at having additional housing within some of the housing they already have…and adding a couple of apartments,” she said. “I am only saying this because it’s not that nothing is happening.”
The meeting, held at Grace United Church and organized by a group of local church leaders from several denominations, attracted far more people than expected.
The strong turnout proves a lot of people care and are determined to find solutions, said organizer John Barnfield.
As chairman of a group of church leaders trying to solve the community’s homeless problem, Barnfield said he was anticipating about 15 people and was astonished when nearly 100 filed into the sanctuary.
“This has blown up. You can feel the energy and passion in this room,” he said. “We are going to build on this.
“There’s nothing that can’t be done.”
The meeting was held in the midst of a cold snap when an estimated 50 – 70 people are sleeping rough in Sarnia-Lambton.
Local shelters are full and numerous makeshift tents are erected downtown and in numerous other locations scattered through the community.
The heartbreak that the Sarnia-Lambton community feels knowing more must be done was voiced by one unnamed man at the meeting who said he interacts daily with the homeless camped out near the Sarnia library.
“There’s four people under the canopy at the library – three girls and one guy – sleeping on the ground. They’ve been doing it all week on concrete and some dirt that’s in that area,” he said. “The dirt, they kind of huddle on because it’s a little bit warmer.”
He turned to White and said, “We have our own skid row here, Brian. It’s terrible. And I write a letter to the city and they say it’s the county that has the money. I write a letter to the police chief and he says the county has the money.
“I can feel everyone here wants to do something,” he added. “I can feel it. This has to be solved.”
Barnfield said he will ensure another community meeting will take place within the next few months.
“We will reconvene and we will bring in more people to become part of the process,” he said.
