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A plan to put a homeless hub in a motel already housing low-income Londoners has been scrapped, the organization that was to operate the hub announced Monday.
Published Nov 06, 2023 • Last updated 11 minutes ago • 5 minute read
Linda Boxall, who has lived at the Lighthouse Inn for five years, shows a text on her phone from a friend saying the plan to open a homeless hub at the north London motel has been shelved. Photograph taken on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)
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A plan to put a homeless hub in a motel already housing low-income Londoners has been scrapped, the organization that was to operate the hub announced Monday.
“We’re in the business of helping people, not making other people homeless,” Pam Hill, regional director of the Canadian Mental Health Association Thames Valley Addiction and Mental Health Services (CMHATV), said in an interview. “That meant we had to withdraw our proposal.”
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The release comes two days after a London Free Press story revealed some residents at the Lighthouse Inn were struggling on low incomes and were worried about becoming homeless themselves if they were forced to move.
Linda Boxall, one of the tenants featured in the story, said she’s relieved her fears of being forced from the room she has lived in for five years have been put to rest.
“I just got the news! I’m saved. . . . I had a thousand pounds off my chest.”
The decision not to go forward on the homeless hub at the motel at 705 Fanshawe Park Rd. West means a second element of the proposal, a plan to put shelter beds at My Sisters’ Place at 566 Dundas St., is also dead, the agency announced.
The Lighthouse Inn was to become a hub with 20 transitional beds for women. My Sisters’ Place, already a day-time shelter, was to add 10 overnight respite beds.
Respite beds are the emergency beds for people seeking basic needs. Transitional beds are for longer-term stays and for those who have taken steps toward housing.
The hub was to be one of the first three opening under London’s new health and homelessness system, aiming to help about 600 of the most vulnerable residents living unsheltered and with complex medical needs.
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Up to 15 hubs offering 24/7 shelter and a full range of services, including primary health care, would open under the new system.
As well, up to 600 housing units with intensive 24/7 supports are to open. About 70 have come online so far this year with a goal of 100 by the end of December.
CMHATV had heard there were a few long-term residents of Lighthouse Inn and believed there were plans to help them find new housing, Hill said.
The Lighthouse Inn at 705 Fanshawe Park Rd. W., west of Wonderland Road, Photograph taken on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)
“It turned out to be a bigger magnitude. And the people don’t want to move. That’s the bottom line,” she said.
The organization notified city hall on Friday that it is withdrawing its proposal, Hill said.
The organization will continue to look for other ways to support the new system, she said.
“I think we’re pulling back for the right reasons. We will re-submit as soon as we have an appropriate location,” Hill said. “We are going to learn some lessons from this. We’re going to do this again. We absolutely believe in this work.”
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The situation shows the challenge in implementing a new system, a statement from city hall’s media relations manager Monika Guzy said.
“System transformation during a crisis will be imperfect, and CMHATV’s decision is a testament to that adaptive approach,” she said.
“It is very unfortunate CMHATV is in this situation but we wholeheartedly support their unwavering commitment to avoiding unintended displacements among marginalized individuals, especially after new information came to light.”
The proposed hub at the Lighthouse Inn, on the northwest corner of Fanshawe Park and Wonderland roads, drew fire from residents and Ward 7 Coun. Corrine Rahman, who said she received almost 600 emails from people worried about the impact of the hub and the lack of public input.
Lighthouse Inn tenant reaction:
Linda Boxall, who has lived at the Lighthouse Inn for about five years, holds a copy of Saturday’s London Free Press with a front-page story about how the planned opening of a homeless hub at the motel at 705 Fanshawe Park Rd. West would affect low-income tenants like her living there. Photograph taken on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)
Linda Boxall said she received a text Monday morning from a friend who told her the plan to open a homeless hub at the Lighthouse Inn had been scrapped.
“I just got the news! I’m saved,” she said. “I had a thousand pounds off my chest.”
Boxall has lived at the north London motel for five years. Her room has a bed, mini-fridge, microwave and personal touches such as books, a vintage lamp and an armchair with blankets.
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She said an official from Canadian Mental Health Association Thames Valley Addiction and Mental Health Services came to see her late last week and asked if she would move to another place. Boxall said she told her she wouldn’t.
“For me, it was a lot of stress and a lot of fighting,” she said. “Now, I can focus on my own life.”
Political reaction to Monday’s announcement:
Ward 7 Coun. Corrine Rahman:
Rahman, who represents the northwest London ward where the Lighthouse Inn is located, said she received nearly 600 emails from residents worried about the potential impact of the proposed homeless hub and the lack of public input.
She praised CMHATV for its decision to pull back from opening a hub that may have created another housing crisis by displacing people who live at the Lighthouse Inn.
“It shows CMHA has listened to the residents, the tenants living at the motel. They have taken into consideration their human rights and the impact it will have,” she said.
Rahman said more time needs to be taken to determine where hubs will be located after agencies issue a request for proposals (RFP).
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“As we move forward with future RFPs we need to understand the property we are looking at, to consider the impact. We may need additional time,” she said.
“I believe the tenants there were brave in the face of a difficult situation. It should not take people being that vulnerable to have their needs meet.”
From a feature by Free Press reporter Beatriz Baleeiro posted last week in which The Free Press speaks to tenants of the Lighthouse Inn who, until today’s announcement, faced eviction to make room for the hub:
Chris Myers
Chris Myers said he lives in the Lighthouse Inn at 705 Fanshawe Park Rd. West in London due to its simplicity and proximity to his work. Myers said he can’t afford to move to an apartment and that he’d lose his job if he has to move. Photograph taken on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)
Prior to Monday’s announcement, was steeling himself for a move he’d rather not make, back to his parents’ home in Chatham. The seven-month tenant, who has no vehicle, moved to the area to be closer to his work.
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He’s been seeking other rooms to rent in the area but hasn’t found anything that fits his budget. “I understand that they’re trying to help the homeless, but I’m going to lose my job (if forced to move to Chatham) because I have nowhere else to live. I can’t afford anything else.”
Darlene Sutherland
Moved to London from Hamilton a month ago and was still unpacking and settling in at the Lighthouse when she learned of the coming hub.
“I know homeless people are moving in here, but I didn’t know they (the inn) would be kicking out people who can afford the place,” the 62-year-old said. “I hope it doesn’t go this way.” She rents the room for $1,356 a month.
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