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- 2002-10-07
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NAPANEE — A Napanee resident is housing nearly a dozen homeless people in five trailers on his four-acre property, located in an industrial area in the growing Seaway town.
Scott Drader has found himself providing housing for several individuals and families who face housing challenges in Greater Napanee, but he’s been told that he will need to remove the trailers to comply with a zoning bylaw.
Drader said that another 10 people are living in tents in the woods behind his property, and that he has a waiting list of as many as 60 people who would like to live in a trailer on the property.
“These guys are basically stuck,” he said. “Where do they go?”
Among those living on Drader’s property are a couple who lived in their car for several months on Crown land; a pregnant woman fleeing an abusive relationship; two transgendered young people evicted by family; and a veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
“He’s been living in tents for the last 15 years,” Drader said. “He has propane and he has water. He cooks his meals on a wood fire outside. He’s been here for four months. Guys like that need a place like this where they can call home for most of the year.”
Drader’s property is zoned as light industrial. The house is considered “legal nonconforming” — he can live there, as long as he doesn’t change the property and the house’s use as a single family dwelling.
Peter Dafoe, general manager of infrastructure services for the Town of Greater Napanee, said the town is investigating the case but has not yet met with Drader.
Dafoe said the town will seek to open communication with Drader about the issue.
“Hopefully we can form a friendly working relationship to identify the problem so that the owner takes care of the issues,” Dafoe said.
To comply with municipal bylaws, Drader’s property would need to be rezoned as commercial, a process that Drader said would cost him about $100,000.
According to Drader, the housing crisis in Napanee has peaked since construction on the Napanee Generating Station began and construction workers descended on the region, eating up local apartments and motel rooms that were often rented by low-income residents.
There is also no homeless shelter in Lennox and Addington County that houses men.
The trailer occupants pay Drader $450 per month to cover the costs of hydro and propane and to have the portable outhouse that he brought in for them, as well as trailer septic tanks, pumped each month.
“The trailers are theirs, as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “I bought them out of my own pocket. When I get whatever I paid for them, it’s theirs. If they can go to a campground and afford the yearly fees, then they have a place that they could call home. Right now they don’t have the money to do that.”
Having a location to call home, even if temporarily, allows residents to receive government assistance for housing. Without that housing allowance, Drader said that many individuals receive approximately $300 per month in government assistance instead of $1,100.
“These people still have a residential address, so they will get their housing allowance. If they didn’t have the address, they wouldn’t be able to save anything,” he said.
Greater Napanee Deputy Mayor Marg Isbester acknowledged there is a housing shortage in Napanee for people on the lower end of the income scale, and that homelessness seems to be increasing in the area.
Isbester expressed concern that people facing housing crises should be given the opportunity to connect with local services.
“It’s one thing to house people, but they have to be housed cleanly and safely with supports in place. It’s not just putting them in any kind of accommodations and then ignoring them. This has to be solved as a whole package,” she said.
“This isn’t a new problem. For years, people have been homeless, couch surfing, having family problems or marital breakups, addictions, mental health problems that have forced them out of their situations. These people need to have support systems.”
Isbester hopes the homelessness issue will become more known and understood in the region.
“When something like this comes to the forefront, it really forces people and governments to look at what is around them, and to know that we have to be part of the solution, not just monetarily, but by supporting these people and not seeing them as outcasts,” she said. “They’ve had a lot less breaks than a lot of people.”
Isbester pointed out that it is the responsibility of Lennox and Addington County to find solutions to housing needs, not the town’s, but that everyone needs to work together to find a solution to the problem.
Drader knows what it’s like to be homeless.
In his early 20s, Drader found himself living in a mobile home in the winter with no heat or electricity.
“Once you’re down, you can’t get out,” he said. “I’ve been there … It took me 20 years to get out of that situation. And I worked for all my life, except the last five years, because I’m physically not able to. I understand what they’re going through. When you’re trying to survive, and when you have no vehicle, and there are no jobs in Napanee, and you have to bike or walk wherever you’re going, then you don’t have a hope in hell.
“I’d like to see these people have a chance at having their own place. Nobody should have to live in a tent.”
mbalogh@postmedia.com
查看原文...
Scott Drader has found himself providing housing for several individuals and families who face housing challenges in Greater Napanee, but he’s been told that he will need to remove the trailers to comply with a zoning bylaw.
Drader said that another 10 people are living in tents in the woods behind his property, and that he has a waiting list of as many as 60 people who would like to live in a trailer on the property.
“These guys are basically stuck,” he said. “Where do they go?”
Among those living on Drader’s property are a couple who lived in their car for several months on Crown land; a pregnant woman fleeing an abusive relationship; two transgendered young people evicted by family; and a veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
“He’s been living in tents for the last 15 years,” Drader said. “He has propane and he has water. He cooks his meals on a wood fire outside. He’s been here for four months. Guys like that need a place like this where they can call home for most of the year.”
Drader’s property is zoned as light industrial. The house is considered “legal nonconforming” — he can live there, as long as he doesn’t change the property and the house’s use as a single family dwelling.
Peter Dafoe, general manager of infrastructure services for the Town of Greater Napanee, said the town is investigating the case but has not yet met with Drader.
Dafoe said the town will seek to open communication with Drader about the issue.
“Hopefully we can form a friendly working relationship to identify the problem so that the owner takes care of the issues,” Dafoe said.
To comply with municipal bylaws, Drader’s property would need to be rezoned as commercial, a process that Drader said would cost him about $100,000.
According to Drader, the housing crisis in Napanee has peaked since construction on the Napanee Generating Station began and construction workers descended on the region, eating up local apartments and motel rooms that were often rented by low-income residents.
There is also no homeless shelter in Lennox and Addington County that houses men.
The trailer occupants pay Drader $450 per month to cover the costs of hydro and propane and to have the portable outhouse that he brought in for them, as well as trailer septic tanks, pumped each month.
“The trailers are theirs, as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “I bought them out of my own pocket. When I get whatever I paid for them, it’s theirs. If they can go to a campground and afford the yearly fees, then they have a place that they could call home. Right now they don’t have the money to do that.”
Having a location to call home, even if temporarily, allows residents to receive government assistance for housing. Without that housing allowance, Drader said that many individuals receive approximately $300 per month in government assistance instead of $1,100.
“These people still have a residential address, so they will get their housing allowance. If they didn’t have the address, they wouldn’t be able to save anything,” he said.
Greater Napanee Deputy Mayor Marg Isbester acknowledged there is a housing shortage in Napanee for people on the lower end of the income scale, and that homelessness seems to be increasing in the area.
Isbester expressed concern that people facing housing crises should be given the opportunity to connect with local services.
“It’s one thing to house people, but they have to be housed cleanly and safely with supports in place. It’s not just putting them in any kind of accommodations and then ignoring them. This has to be solved as a whole package,” she said.
“This isn’t a new problem. For years, people have been homeless, couch surfing, having family problems or marital breakups, addictions, mental health problems that have forced them out of their situations. These people need to have support systems.”
Isbester hopes the homelessness issue will become more known and understood in the region.
“When something like this comes to the forefront, it really forces people and governments to look at what is around them, and to know that we have to be part of the solution, not just monetarily, but by supporting these people and not seeing them as outcasts,” she said. “They’ve had a lot less breaks than a lot of people.”
Isbester pointed out that it is the responsibility of Lennox and Addington County to find solutions to housing needs, not the town’s, but that everyone needs to work together to find a solution to the problem.
Drader knows what it’s like to be homeless.
In his early 20s, Drader found himself living in a mobile home in the winter with no heat or electricity.
“Once you’re down, you can’t get out,” he said. “I’ve been there … It took me 20 years to get out of that situation. And I worked for all my life, except the last five years, because I’m physically not able to. I understand what they’re going through. When you’re trying to survive, and when you have no vehicle, and there are no jobs in Napanee, and you have to bike or walk wherever you’re going, then you don’t have a hope in hell.
“I’d like to see these people have a chance at having their own place. Nobody should have to live in a tent.”
mbalogh@postmedia.com
查看原文...
