Elias Maalin found housing in Hamilton, but it wasn’t enough
In October 2020, Elias Maalin's prospects looked as bleak as the grey sky pelting rain on downtown Hamilton.
Maalin was one of dozens of homeless people forced to leave a large encampment on Ferguson Avenue North that fall day.
Like others, he packed up his stuff, but wound up in a tent pitched in a park near railway tracks not far away.
Maalin, a 22-year-old immigrant from Somalia, was plain-spoken about why he didn't opt to stay in a shelter.
I'm a drinker. It's not good for me," he said. If I go there, the next day I will get kicked out."
But Maalin eventually found a subsidized apartment through a pilot project that offers services to help people with mental-health and addiction issues stay housed.
However innovative, the project, which started in January, didn't work for Maalin, with tragic consequences. He died last week.
Police won't share details of his death but say it's not believed to be suspicious. It's now in the hands of the coroner's office.
News of Maalin's tragic demise - after the promise of housing stability - has hit hard for those who knew him.
Emily Power, a Hamilton resident who advocates for tenants' rights, met Maalin at the Ferguson Avenue teardown in October 2020.
He told her and a friend about his family problems, that he went to the former Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School.
They later ran into him at a rally outside city hall.
He was really excited to have the apartment," Power said. He seemed happy."
When they met him as part of their Christian-rooted outreach efforts, Carl Hines and his wife took an instant liking to Maalin.
He'd drop off the radar from time to time, but they'd run into him again and catch up. The last time was a few weeks ago.
That day, he gave me a really strong hug and he kissed me on the neck," said Hines, who'd hoped to meet Maalin's relatives.
But it never happened.
Then all of the sudden, that's it. He died."
Maalin was a familiar presence at the Hub, says Jennifer Bonner, who operates the downtown drop-in centre on Vine Street.
He was a lovely kid," Bonner said, but obviously challenged with a whole bunch of trauma. Alcohol was his choice to hide that trauma, unfortunately."
She argues the pilot project - a partnership between the city, St. Joseph's Healthcare, the Canadian Mental Health Association and the Coalition of Hamilton Indigenous Leadership - was not the right fit for Maalin.
Unfortunately, we put him in a building where he probably wasn't going to connect with supports."
On Monday, St. Joe's and the city confirmed a participant had died but didn't provide further details.
Generally speaking, the project offers far more enhanced" support services than other programs, but they're still not enough" for those with the most complex needs, Edward John, the city's housing director, said in an earlier interview.
The Mountain Mosque held prayers for Maalin on Saturday morning, Sabreina Dahab noted.
Dahab is a member of the Hamilton Encampment Support Network, which has called on the city to do more to tackle homelessness.
When we say people are going to die, we mean it, that the city's inaction is going to keep killing people."
City officials, in turn, point to the need for more provincial health dollars to fill support-service gaps.
Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com