By: Pam Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Chatham Voice
Heather Brown says she doesn’t feel safe living at Chatham’s tiny cabin complex.
Clean and sober for 22 years, Brown found herself homeless earlier this summer, living in her car with her dog.
Originally from Blenheim, the lifelong Chatham-Kent resident lost her job and the room she was renting, which in turn led her to Pathways on Park – Chatham’s new tiny 50 cabin transitional housing complex.
Brown, who is currently on medical employment insurance benefits, pays $600 a month to live at the complex, but she says Pathways is full of drug users, and only a handful of residents are clean.
Brown, who has made her circumstances known on social media, said she feels like she’s getting the short end of the stick, and calls Pathways on Park “Pathways of False Hope.”
She said the Pathways’ motto “to help everyone” doesn’t seem to apply to her.
“I feel like I’m alone with no help,” she said in a recent interview with The Voice, adding that because she owns a car and has a car payment, she’s disqualified for extra help and can’t get an Ontario Works drug card to cover her life-saving blood pressure medication.
Brown said she’s not alone in her concerns. Other Pathways on Park residents feel the same way she does, but they don’t want to draw attention to themselves by complaining.
“I’m not worried about any hate getting directed towards me,” Brown said. “They’re already trying to push me out.”
When contacted by The Voice regarding the problems Brown is speaking out about, Jennifer Crowell, Chatham-Kent’s manager of housing services and the person responsible for homelessness prevention throughout the municipality, said she was aware of the issues posed by Brown on social media.
However, she said she couldn’t speak to an individual case due to privacy restrictions.
“I’m sorry one person feels that this is not a safe place to live, but there are 49 others here,” she said. “We encourage residents to come forward and let us know so we can fix issues.”
Aside from residing with active drug users, Brown said there are problems with maintenance at the site. Blood on the bathroom walls, human feces inside the shower that she had to clean up before she could use it, feces on toilets and needles on the walkways are some of the problems Brown said she has encountered.
“This is supposed to be transitional housing not a daycare for addicts,” Brown added, noting there have been seven fentanyl overdoses in the past month she’s aware of.
In response to allegations of drug use at the complex on social media and a lack of supports, Crowell said she can’t speak to an individualized case because of privacy concerns.
However, she did say that Pathways on Park takes a “housing first” approach and that sobriety is not a requirement to live there.
“Pathways on Park is transitional housing with a goal of finding long-term housing,” Crowell said. “If substance use is a barrier to that, staff will be having those conversations to find out if they want to address it.”
However, she stressed that case managers are “not counsellors.” Instead they refer clients to appropriate services.
“We connect the client to community resources,” Crowell said. “We create an individualized case plan for each person and this can look very different for everyone. We work with people where they’re at, building supports and services for them that they need.”
Meanwhile, Brown said she feels somewhat imprisoned.
“It’s like being in jail but jail provides you with three meals a day,” she explained, adding that as someone who suffers with PTSD and anxiety, she’s triggered by drug activity at Pathways.
“Fetty (fentanyl) fills that place like you wouldn’t believe,” she said, and people constantly smoke cigarettes and drugs inside their cabins.
As far as cleanliness in the shared washrooms and common area goes, Crowell said the space is checked numerous times a day, as five bathrooms are shared amongst 50 people. Mud can be a problem within the shared spaces she said, as it’s tracked in by people using the dirt walkways.
As for people being asked to leave because they aren’t following the rules, Crowell said it happens. Since opening in August, eight individuals have been asked to leave.
Nine individuals have moved on to permanent housing and two have left to attend residential treatment for substance use disorder.
Crowell said an ultimatum is given to people who refuse to work with a case manager to try and resolve their issues.
Each person that comes to Pathways on Park is assigned to a case manager who works with a client towards the goal of helping them overcome obstacles and find permanent housing. They are required to meet with their case manager at least once a week and to take part in some of the 22 different programs offered at the cabins.
Their case manager also follows them after they move on from the complex.
While substance use at the complex is discouraged, being clean and sober is not a requirement to live in the tiny cabins, Crowell said, noting it’s not a pre-requisite in other areas of society, such as renting a home or getting a job.
Crowell pointed out that’s nearly impossible to solve the homelessness issue in light of skyrocketing rents with a one-bedroom apartment renting for $1,500 to $1,700 a month.
A person on Ontario Works receives only $390 a month a month for shelter.
Homelessness is something that has always existed, Crowell added, but the problem mushroomed nation-wide during the pandemic.
Currently there are 1,400 local residents on a waitlist for rent geared-to-income housing.
As for Heather Brown, she’s hoping to find a job and a place to live so she can move on.
