Tents set up adjacent to support
By Pam Wright
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
George Kyle says the trouble starts when he closes his eyes.
Currently sleeping rough under a bridge in Chatham, Kyle said he’s afraid to rest because of what may happen.
“Whenever I go to sleep, something gets taken,” the 63-year-old told The Voice recently. “I’ve stayed awake for days on end and nothing happens. But when I close my eyes, I have had my bike taken, a tablet taken and my wallet has been stolen four times. I have to keep getting new ID. It costs a lot and I can’t afford it.”
Kyle, who didn’t mind giving his full name, is one of the regulars at Chatham’s Hope Haven. He goes there for lunch every day, sometimes grabs fresh clothes and a shower, and meets with workers who help him with his search for housing.
Originally, he was living in the small encampment that’s sprang up this spring in the municipal parking lot beside Hope Haven, but moved on to the bridge saying it’s a better option.
“There’s too many shady people out there,” he said of the makeshift camp.
Without going too far into his background, Kyle said he moved to Chatham from London 20 years ago, working on farms and home renovation jobs. Today he suffers from asthma, COPD, eczema, low blood sugar and severe food allergies, conditions exacerbated by living on the streets.
Kyle said he fell into homelessness because of helping others, lending a hand to those down on their luck – including people suffering from addiction – but admits the approach backfired.
“All that got me was spending all my money, not paying my rent,” he said. “It got me broke and homeless.”
After spending time in the Victoria Park Place emergency shelter earlier this year, Kyle found a room for $750 a month but was evicted after disagreements with his landlord.
“Me and my landlord didn’t get along,” he said. “I was only there two weeks. I don’t like arguing, I don’t like fighting.”
A lack of affordable housing is the number one problem relating to the encampment, says Hope Haven general manager Loree Bailey. So too is the need for immediate treatment for addictions and mental health beyond what can be provided at the 10-day detox program at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance.
Fentanyl abuse is of grave concern, she adds, with overdoses occurring outside Hope Haven’s doors on a regular basis. Bailey said she’s administered the opioid antidote Narcan “more times than she can count.”
Workers also give CPR to people overdosing and call emergency services, but people often refuse the help.
“We see them come out clean from the detox and they are ready for treatment,” Bailey explained. “But then they have to wait a long time to get into a facility. That doesn’t work. They end up in the same environment and start using again and it’s actually more dangerous. They come out and their systems are clean, and if they use the way they were before they went in, we end up Narcaning them.”
Bailey, who has been working at Hope Haven for the past seven years, said she’s witnessed a change in the people who come to the centre. Today, she estimates 90 per cent are affected by mental health problems and addiction, compared to 25 per cent when Hope Haven was launched in 2017.
Bailey said she’s well aware the public doesn’t want the homeless to be camped out downtown. People come down to the parking lot to take pictures and video of those living in the encampment – some even shout at the homeless living there.
She realizes that folks who are addicted and mentally ill can be scary, and some Hope Haven benefactors are even afraid to get out of their cars to drop off donations.
However, Bailey encourages people to come down to the site and see it firsthand.
“Come and see what we are doing, come talk to me,” Bailey implored. “Because I don’t believe that anybody wants humans to live like this. I don’t believe that anybody thinks this is OK. Nobody wants to live this way. Nobody grows up and says, ‘I want to be homeless.’”
A report on how to best deal with homeless encampments is expected to come before council in June. According to C-K housing director Josh Myers, recent caselaw has complicated encampment interventions and has obligated municipalities to balance human and Charter rights for unhoused persons, and the corresponding impact of any enforcement action before such action is taken.
“This does not mean that there is nothing that can be done about encampments, but it is not a simple process,” Myers said in an e-mail. “To come to this decision, with respect to appropriate actions, multiple municipal departments and partner agencies review the situation from a variety of angles.”
With respect to the encampment beside Hope Haven, Myers said officials meet regularly to discuss the risks, and municipal staff recently pitched in to assist with a general cleanup. Currently, he said staff from Hope Haven, R.O.C.K. Missions and the municipality visit the site at least three times a day, advising those who stay there to remove all items not related to basic shelter needs.
“Staff and partners will continue to use this time to engage with individuals with the goal of determining why they are here and not accessing services and what it would take to access services again,” Myers said.
As for where Kyle is going next, he said he’ll take another room if he can find one.
When asked if he is scared on the streets, Kyle said he isn’t, but he knows others who are.
“There’s a lot of people that are really paranoid about being out there,” he said. “If I see somebody getting beat up, I’m jumping in there. I just wish everybody out there would stay safe and get together and try and figure something out. Something will work. “
Bailey said it’s not all doom and gloom for the homeless, as some do find housing and make their way back.
“We celebrate those success stories and they happen,” Bailey added, but concluded that “if people are dead, they can’t get better.”
