Letter to the Editor,
I am very concerned for the West Nipissing residents who are homeless or underhoused. On April 16, No More Tears reported that 7 of their clients were living in tents, 2 in sheds, 5 in trailers, 6 in shelters, and 30 were couch surfing. Housing is one of the priority areas addressed by West Nipissing’s Community Safety and Well-being Plan, because “Shelter is a necessity of life and necessary for being safe and well.” The consultation phase discovered that “there are a lack of affordable rentals, houses for purchase are inflated beyond what is affordable to most residents, there are inadequate transitional and emergency housing options, and there is a lack of subsidized housing options” (pg 40). A number of interventions are planned to counter homelessness. And yet, here we are, making bylaws that lead to evictions.
Sadly, the revised zoning bylaw prohibits using a camper as a primary residence during the winter months because of safety issues. Sheds, sea cans, and other make-shift shelters are also prohibited because they don’t meet the building code. This severely limits the options of low-income people. In May, one of our residents was evicted from his modified shed. It has been reported that this individual was dishonest on his building permit application, was refusing help, and was generally difficult to work with. Even if this is true, eviction should never be a consequence of building code violations. It causes extreme hardship and is inhumane. Whatever happened to “Shelter is a necessity of life?” This man, who has a disability, now has no water or sewer, no shelter, no door to lock. He is even being made to pay for the cost of his eviction! His health is deteriorating. How, then, can he deal with the stress from the municipality, or do the planning and work required to make his home compliant? Being homeless will make this infinitely more difficult. He has become the poster boy for a David-and-Goliath battle against a rigid building code that doesn’t work in our current economic reality. Enforcement can result in eviction from an unsafe dwelling into a much more dangerous situation. This directly violates the fundamental purpose of the law.
There are others who support this view. In 2021, a study by the Fraser Institute, “Housing Codes, Homelessness, and Affordable Housing” (John Palmer and Steve Lafleur), explored how building codes contribute to homelessness. “Over the past century, people who care about the squalid living conditions of low-income families and individuals have gradually persuaded governments to enact and enforce rigid housing codes…This well-intentioned policy has the unfortunate effect of reducing the supply of housing for low-income people, forcing them into worse alternatives such as remaining in abusive situations, staying in temporary shelters, living under bridges, forming illegal campsites, sleeping in doorways, etc.” Considering these alternatives, most people would choose to stay in their unsafe shed or camper, but our current building code and bylaws don’t allow them to make that choice.
The study goes on to say, “The risks of being unsheltered are numerous and plain to see: violence, bad weather, lack of a mailing address… Moreover, the mental health effects on people who lack a stable home…are immense.”
I personally witnessed the endless struggles of a homeless woman who stayed on our property one summer. She was continually exposed to the elements and the relentless onslaught of insects. She lost food to spoilage and to raccoons, her belongings were ruined by rain, and she feared for her personal safety. She worked herself to exhaustion to provide food, water, fire wood, and clean clothes for herself while grappling with all her other issues. We simply cannot stand by and allow our most vulnerable people to be evicted from the only shelter they have.
West Nipissing residents have expressed outrage at Council for evicting the gentleman from his shed, but their anger may be misdirected, because, according to Mayor Thorne Rochon, “The Ontario Building Code is provincial law… Municipalities are legally obligated to enforce it…” So the municipality’s hands are tied – it’s the province who dictates these evictions. CAO Mike Pilon adds that the building code protects the municipality from liability. So who is liable if the eviction itself results in harm to someone, or even death? During our northern Ontario winter, almost any shelter is safer than a tent. Unsheltered people who want to build inexpensive alternative dwellings for their own use should be allowed to do so, even if only temporarily. Perhaps they could sign a waiver that absolves the municipality of responsibility.
I emailed our MPP John Vanthof and asked him to do something about the building code, because it’s making people homeless. I told him that the province should make regulations that people can actually afford to comply with, or else provide programs and funding to help them comply. The response from his office was, “I have to say that this is a Municipal issue. We, as a Provincial entity are not mandated to tell any Municipality how to enforce their by-laws, processes, or guidelines. I would suggest you voice your concerns directly with the Municipal authorities…” And so, the province washes its hands of any homelessness resulting from the building code and points the finger back at the municipality.
This answer contradicts statements made by the mayor, but at least I got an answer. On May 26, I emailed my council rep Daniel Gagné but have not received any response. I asked how much of this camper bylaw was mandated by the province, and how much was dreamed up by the municipality. West Nipissing resident Jason Burns brought up an interesting point: “If Queen’s Park hands down mandates that do not fit our community, or fly directly against the will and wants of the people of West Nipissing, it is their absolute duty to lobby against those rules in the name of the people they represent. They are supposed to be our voice to the province, not the province’s voice to us!” I borrowed from this, and suggested to Mr. Gagné that Members of Council should petition the provincial government for some much-needed changes to the Ontario Building Code.
At the open house meeting on June 23, [former mayor] Joanne Savage informed council about other municipalities who do not evict people from campers in the winter, but instead assist them with sanitation and help them make their camper as safe as possible. Why can’t West Nipissing do that? I happen to believe that the members of our municipal council are extraordinarily competent. In January, they went to Queens Park and came back with over 18 million dollars to address Verner’s water woes. I am hopeful that they will intervene effectively on behalf of our underhoused and homeless population as well.
I leave you with the sad story told in an award-winning documentary “Someone Lives Here” (Zack Russell, 2023). Khaleel Seivwright, a carpenter, built 109 tiny, life-saving shelters for homeless people in Toronto during the winter of the pandemic. They were designed for staying warm using only the occupant’s own body heat, and for locking up belongings. He distributed them to unsheltered people living in ravines and parks. The city of Toronto did not respond favourably, and eventually took him to court to stop him. In the summer, the city issued trespass notices and sent in police with horses, drones, riot gear, and pepper spray. Officers clashed with unsheltered residents and protesters, forcefully breaking up human chains, wrestling people to the ground and pushing back crowds using wooden pallets, leading to dozens of arrests. Municipal crews brought in bulldozers, excavators, and dump trucks to crush and discard the wooden micro-shelters, tents, and personal belongings. The operation cost almost $2 million. Three months after the parks were cleared, 92% of the unsheltered residents were still homeless.
West Nipissing is not Toronto. Our unsheltered citizens are more important than property values, neighbourhood character, or regulations that don’t make sense. Let’s have some compassion!
Vera Charles
Sturgeon Falls
