Homelessness on the rise in Haldimand-Norfolk

Before he was picked up outside Simcoe town hall during a snowstorm and driven to a motel last Saturday night, James MacNeil said it had been years since he slept in a bed.

Two years ago I was in shelters in Brantford, but ever since then I've been on the streets," he said.

MacNeil and two others who were huddled under blankets on the town hall steps now have temporary shelter thanks to donations collected by Waterford resident Leanne Arnal.

She drove by the trio around midnight and stopped to ask what she could do to help.

Coffee and doughnuts turned into phone calls to local motels until she found them a room. With the three settled in for the night, Arnal posted a video to Facebook asking for help.

The next morning, I woke up to non-stop support," she said, describing a rush of donated meals and winter gear, and enough cash to keep five people in the motel for 10 days.

This is a Band-Aid," Arnal said. Getting them into a motel is great, but they need real treatment and support to get well and get off the street."

Jamie White, who was sleeping in his wheelchair when Arnal came upon him, is grateful for the respite from the elements.

It can be very nasty, especially in winter. I slept here at the library for a whole week straight," White said.

Day to night, I didn't leave here. I suffered a lot of pain and aches. It's just bitter. Very bitter."

White and MacNeil are among a growing homeless population in Haldimand-Norfolk that on a given night exceeds the number of shelter beds available.

There is no dedicated homeless shelter in the two counties. Instead, Homeless Prevention Services manages 17 beds split between a Jarvis motel and an affordable housing building in Simcoe.

A census conducted by Homeless Prevention Services staff last month counted more than 80 people living on the streets, and that number is almost certainly low, said Nikki Wagenaar, the agency's intake and diversion worker.

With the pandemic-inspired eviction freeze at an end, increased demand for shelter space has created a sense of urgency to get people into stable housing.

We want to try and find any creative solution we can come up with in order to have beds available for when people are on the streets and they need somewhere to go," Wagenaar said.

But the agency is losing ground. Local vacancy rates are essentially at zero and people are staying in the shelter rooms longer and longer," said program manager Louise Lovell.

The numbers are creeping up," she said, adding that Homeless Prevention Services gets calls on a daily basis" about people needing help.

Those who do not luck into supportive housing end up couch-surfing or bedding down under bridges, in stairwells and cemeteries, and in baseball diamond dugouts.

A tent encampment popped up outside Simcoe town hall last month but was quickly removed by police after the OPP fielded complaints.

MacNeil said this winter he has slept in an encampment deep in the forest alongside Norfolk's trail system, huddled by a campfire for warmth.

He wants to see a dedicated homeless shelter built in Norfolk.

There's gotta be a lot of spaces in Simcoe that are not being used. Vacant places, lands, whatever," MacNeil said.

The other night, I thought I was really going to freeze to death. Just having a place to sleep inside would have helped a lot."

More could be done, Lovell said, if government funding for homeless prevention kept up with the growing need.

MacNeil said his long-term goal is to get into a drug treatment program to kick his crystal meth habit and eventually reunite with his family in Port Dover.

I've been looking to go to treatment for a while now," he said.

I want help to get back to my kids and my family. Because I can't have a family being on drugs and homeless."

But addiction treatment is chronically underfunded, Lovell said.

This person needs some addiction support, this person needs some mental health support, and they're sitting on wait lists," she said.

Lovell appreciates the impulse Arnal had to reach out when confronted with people sleeping outside. But she cautioned that short-term fixes without the proper follow through can exacerbate the problem.

Homelessness in and of itself is a traumatic event. But more importantly, chances are good you didn't fall into homelessness without experiencing trauma to start with," Lovell said.

And if trauma isn't treated, you're probably never going to get past it. That trauma will keep getting in your way of good choices and stable housing and so forth."

Arnal knows it will take systemic change to address the root causes of homelessness.

But if somebody needs help today, let's get them help today," she said.

J.P. Antonacci's reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows him to report on stories about the regions of Haldimand and Norfolk.