Shepherds of Good Hope wants to expand ByWard Market operation with eight-storey housing complex
Some residents in the neighbourhood are opposed, saying services for the homeless and vulnerable should not be concentrated in one area of the city.
Jacquie Miller, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Feb 17, 2021 • 49 minutes ago • 4 minute read
The Shepherds of Good Hope plans to build an eight-storey building near its current shelter for the homeless in the ByWard Market that would include supportive housing for up to 48 people, a soup kitchen and a drop-in centre.
The organization says it wants to be part of the solution to the housing crisis that has fuelled a rise in homelessness in Ottawa.
People would be moved out of the emergency shelters and into their own tiny apartments in the complex, which would include a communal dining hall and staff available to help with mental health, addiction and medical problems, said Caroline Cox, senior manager of communications for the Shepherds.
Some residents in the neighbourhood are opposed, saying services for the homeless and vulnerable should not be concentrated in one area of the city.
“I was flabbergasted,” said homeowner Brian Nolan, who lives one block from the development proposed for 216 Murray St., where currently a one-story building houses offices for the Shepherds of Good Hope.
Nolan said that, in the 15 years he’s lived in the area, it has become increasingly unsafe, with home and car thefts, drug dealing, loitering, aggressive and erratic behaviour, urinating, defecating and vomiting on sidewalks and yards and sexual acts conducted in public on his dead-end street. Before he lets his son play basketball in the yard, he checks the ground for needles and his home security camera to see who is nearby.
“The combination of over-concentration of shelters and drug injection sites has been a lethal combination for our community,” Nolan wrote in a letter to a variety of city officials, including the councillor for the ward, Mathieu Fleury, who co-sponsored a community meeting on the issue Tuesday.
“The project you are advocating for could have generational devastating effects on the residential, family-based communities and businesses in this ward and thus must be reviewed in-depth before making any decision,” Nolan wrote.
The president of the Lowertown Community Association, Norman Moyer, who co-hosted Tuesday’s meeting, said the community was generous, but there have been rising concerns about incidents among homeless people in the area.
The association has long been a proponent of supportive housing, “but is this the right place for it?” he said.
And will the residents in the housing be shielded “from the very difficult and negative behaviours that they will be walking out into every day?” he said.
The development was funded by a $10.3-million “Rapid Housing Initiative” grant from the federal government, Cox said.
The building would require a zoning variance, and officials at the meting said they expected the proposal to go before the city’s planning committee in a couple of months.
Plans call for the ground floor of the development to be a drop-in centre, including life skills and recreational programming.
It would be the only one of its kind in the city and operate 16 hours a day, Shepherds officials said during the meeting. They said the drop-in would reduce the number of people hanging around on sidewalks because they have no other place to go, and improve community safety.
“A lot of people we are working with there have addiction issues. There are mental health issues,” Cox said. “They don’t feel welcome in a lot of places. Even prior to the pandemic, people experiencing homelessness often don’t feel welcome.”
There would also be a courtyard, she said.
The second floor would be a soup kitchen, replacing one operated by the Shepherds across the street in a building at 233 Murray St., which would then be used for offices.
The top six floors would contain 350-square-foot apartments, each with a kitchenette. Priority would be given to Indigenous tenants and women.
There would be 24-hour security, Cox said.
Home takeovers have been a problem at other supportive housing units, she said. “There are usually drugs involved, there is intimidation, that sort of thing. So we definitely want to guard against that happening.”
The development would incorporate part of the small lot next door, Cox said. The next building, at the corner of Murray Street and King Edward Avenue, houses the 268-bed emergency shelter run by the Shepherds and a safe drug injection site.
The CEO of Shepherds, Deirdre Freiheit, said the plan was to reduce the number of beds at that shelter as people are moved into the supportive housing next door.
The organization operates three other supportive housing projects with a total of 183 units in Lowertown, Kanata and Nepean, and a 42-unit project is nearing completion on Montreal Road.
The goal is to have more supportive housing units than shelter beds, Cox said.
In response to neighbours wondering why services were concentrated in Lowertown and the ByWard Market, she said homeless people should also be allowed a choice in where they would like to live. Many have lived in the area for years and rely on services there.
Transitioning to the suburbs can be difficult for some, Cox said.
People attending the virtual meeting were not given the opportunity to speak, but could comment or ask questions using the chat function.
“We need to talk frankly about what happens OUTSIDE of Sheps buildings as much as we are talking about what is intended for inside,” one wrote. “The amount of drug use and dealing that has migrated into the residential areas since the opening of the safe injection site is shocking. I see deals and use happening on the sidewalk in front of my house, and in front of the Sheps buildings, daily.”
Another person identifying themselves as a landlord of a nearby building wrote: “We have seen so many homeless people using every spot available to sleep, urinate, and it scares my tenants…”
“We are taking vulnerable women and indigenous folks and putting them right in line with active IV drug use, selling, and essentially many triggering substances,” another wrote. “How does this make sense from a supportive perspective…”
“Will there be security on front of the building to keep the sidewalks clear and safe so I can walk down Murray Street with my children?” another wrote.
A couple of people were positive. ” I think you’ve designed an amazing building,” one wrote. “Well Done. Let’s get on with giving 48 people a home!”
jmiller@postmedia.com
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