City wants to shut down 4 residential care homes in central Hamilton
A licencing tribunal hearing for 4 central Hamilton residential care homes is set for Friday
The city wants to shut down four residential care homes in central Hamilton for a number of licencing violations that imperil public safety, according to an April 13 letter sent by the city's top licencing official to the homes' owner.
But the owner said he hasn't been given enough time to make the changes after he took ownership of the properties late last year.
These are decisions that aren't taken lightly.- Ken Leendertse, licencing director
The city wants to revoke licences for Anka Rest Home, Burris Rest Home and St. Francis Lodge. City staff also recommend refusing a licence to Balsam Lodge. The properties are home to more than 40 adults with a range of mental health or mobility disabilities.
A licencing tribunal hearing on the licences is set for Friday.
In the meantime, staff from the Niagara-based care facility company Supportive Living heard about issues at the homes.
That company offered to come in and manage them on "a humanitarian basis" for the last two weeks, said company executive Vishal Chityal.
"We just went in to comfort people" who live in the properties, Chityal said. "They need a little bit of a voice and need someone to look in on them."
His company is also considering acquiring the properties, he said.
"We don't want this thing to snowball into a situation where people are going to lose their homes," he said. "There's a lack of bed spaces available for these individuals."
Consumer protection
The city alleges that the homes or the licence-holder:
- haven't followed residential care facility laws and protocols
- have "put public safety at risk"
- "will not operate the residential care facilities with honesty or integrity"
In at least one of the homes, city inspectors found issues with "nutritional requirements for residents" and drugs not being kept in a locked cabinet, according to the notice of hearing. The city also cited notices for services being cut off and fire code issues.
"It's about public safety and consumer protection," said Ken Leendertse, the city's licencing director. "These are decisions that aren't taken lightly. We don't believe this is the right person to be running this facility."
The buildings are owned by Andrew James, who owns a financing company and took ownership of the properties in December.
He told CBC Hamilton on Tuesday that the city has not given him enough time to deal with all of the issues with the properties under the previous owner.
"I just bought the property on December the 24th, and by January the 11th they were ready to shut me down," James said.
James said he didn't know the previous owner, but was hoping taking ownership would be a good thing for the residents and for him.
"I basically tried to bail (the previous owner) out," James said. "I tried to take over the properties and try to turn it around."
New licence, fresh slate
One of the same lodges ran afoul of city licencing before.
In 2012 the city shut down Burris Lodge for 60 days, and passed resolutions specifically requiring the company to ensure cleanliness, stay in contact with a pest control company and hire a contractor to immediately repair the "ongoing water temperature issues" at the lodge, according to minutes of the licencing tribunal meetings from that year.
James said that the property with the biggest issues is Balsam Lodge – including "open fire stairs" and a work order. At the other properties, he said, the issues are easier to tackle, like a lightbulb out or a toilet not working.
Licences can't be simply transferred from owner to owner, so when James bought the properties, he had to apply for licences for all of them.
Leendertse confirmed the city granted James licences for Anka, Burris and St. Francis.
The properties' past issues were considered bygones by the time James applied.
"When a person gets a new licence they get a fresh slate," Leendertse said.
That means those three properties were in compliance when city inspectors granted the licence. But that doesn't mean that those recurring issues from the past won't come back to plague the new owner.
"You could be compliant the day of and the next day you have a problem," Leendertse said.
A 'bad deck of cards'
James attributed any lack of food in the homes' fridges to city inspectors coming the day before the grocery truck comes.
He estimated it'd cost $200,000 to fix all of the properties' issues. He would not disclose how much he paid for the homes in December.
"It's been a bad deck of cards that I've been dealt," he said.
"The issues with this, we did not know that there were so much stuff going on until we were too deep into it and we had already put hundreds of thousands of dollars into it," James said.
'We're not walking away'
Chityal said he thinks James is doing as much as he can, despite not having much experience in this sector.
He said licencing disputes can be exacerbated by politics, but ultimately he said he hopes the 40-something residents of these properties aren't displaced.
"We are not walking away from what we feel is our community responsibility. We will stay in there until we're satisfied that this situation has been resolved," Chityal said.