Cornwall unveils winter housing plan in shadow of encampment resident's death

An eastern Ontario city's plan to house homeless people this winter is being met with a mix of relief and regret, coming less than a week after a woman died in a local encampment. 

On Thursday, the City of Cornwall announced it will use a former nursing home as a transitional housing and support services hub. The goal is to then move people to more permanent sites, including a former school being retrofitted to provide supportive housing units and tiny homes.

Cornwall's homelessness problem has become more visible since the COVID-19 pandemic, with encampments taking root at multiple sites, most recently at a riverside park where a 67-year-old woman, Diane Hebert, was found dead in a tent on Sunday morning. 

The city says it has been working behind the scenes on homelessness solutions for months. Hebert's death, and its timing, has hit hard.

Coun. Sarah Good called the news "gutting" and the timing "brutal," while fellow councillor Claude McIntosh said the death was a "game-changer." 

Mayor Justin Towndale issued a public statement in which he took personal responsibility as mayor for what happened, while also stating that Hebert had declined the help of the city's human services department. 

"We failed her. I failed her," Towndale's statement read.

"Nothing I can say or do will bring Ms. Hebert back. All I can do is pledge to do better and hope that we can avoid a similar tragedy in the future."

Dramatic increase at daytime drop-in centre

Cornwall has no overnight shelter for homeless people — a shock to people coming in from other cities and a factor that led to the camps, Taylor Seguin says.

Seguin is the executive director of Centre 105, a daytime drop-in centre and breakfast provider in Cornwall. 

He says higher rents in recent years have made affordable homes harder to come by and that traffic at the centre has risen "dramatically." 

Hebert's death was heartbreaking in part because "had our community acted in a more swift manner, perhaps this could have been avoided," Seguin said. 

In his statement, Towndale said the city originally hoped a temporary shelter space would be ready by the end of October. But one location didn't pan out, while the logistics for the nursing home building took time to work out.

That downtown building will have room for up to 20 residents and offer addiction services, mental health supports and other wraparound care the city has said is key to helping the homeless. 

"A shelter alone is not the solution. We need a more robust plan," Towndale said in his statement. 

• Read the mayor's full statement

Seguin said that while a shelter is often seen as a Band-Aid fix, "we need some Band-Aids right now [because] we are in a really tough situation."

The list of Cornwall residents identifying as homeless numbered 77 in October 2021. That has since grown to 120, the city said on Friday. 

The same day, Cornwall's chief administrative officer Mathieu Fleury said in a news conference that the nursing home building will have enough capacity for those still in encampments. 

At Pointe Maligne Park, where Diane Hebert was staying with her daughter, seven people remained as of Friday afternoon, while three were at another nearby camp, according to Unity Street Help Association, a local advocacy group. 

"They are still in mourning here," association spokesperson Tina Point said via text of Pointe Maligne, whose lands are technically owned by Transport Canada. 

Some people may choose to remain in a tent and "we need to respect that choice," according to a city update posted ahead of council's next meeting on Tuesday.  

Larger plan includes sleeping cabins

The city is leasing the nursing home building for at least seven months, possibly longer.

The idea is to eventually move residents to a building the city has bought, the former Vincent Massey Public School in the north end of the city, according to the plans unveiled Thursday. 

Massey Place will feature nine supportive housing units and potentially 20 tiny homes or sleeping cabins, though the exact timeline for its opening is unclear.  

The building is close to three schools, so if the city proceeds with that location, it can expect "big-time" pushback, McIntosh said. 

The city has met with school officials, according to the city's update to councillors.