A group calling themselves the Good Neighbours Coalition Cobourg has launched a petition asking Northumberland County and the Town of Cobourg to make changes to Transition House.
Transition House is located on Chapel Street in Cobourg and is Northumberland County’s only homeless shelter.
Their website states they provide “safe, dignified and supportive temporary housing, life skills and transitional support services to men and women over the age of 18″ for people from Northumberland County.
The Good Neighbours Coalition is a group of over 30 concerned citizens who live and work in the area of Transition House.
Transition House had been closed for approximately 10-months after a staff member was assaulted and there was considerable structural damage done. It re-opened as a low barrier facility in October 2018 and since that time a number of people have raised concerns.
There are 11-staff members who are trained in CPR and non-violent crisis intervention.
The facility holds up to 22-clients with five bunk beds holding 10 people in one room.
Good Neighbours Coalition is asking for Cobourg and Northumberland County for three items in the petition.
To designate Transition House as true transition house supporting low-risk, unsheltered residents seeking permanent housing.
To conduct a risk assessment (or environmental scan) to determine the risks of locating a high capacity, low-barrier emergency shelter in residential and business areas.
And lastly to establish a specialized emergency shelter supporting those who are living with addictions, psychiatric disabilities, and dual diagnoses near emergency and support services.
The petition comes on the heels of what a delegation of the group meeting on November 5 with members of Northumberland County.
There were approximately five members from the Good Neighbours Coalition who spoke about their experiences since Transition House became low-barrier.
A number of people from the County were at the meeting including CAO Jennifer Moore, Director of Social Services Lisa Horne, Manager of Community and Customer Service Sarah Tanner, and Vice-Chair of Transition House Linda Hinton.
Coordinator of the Good Neighbours Coalition Alyson King said the purpose of the meeting was to bring the groups concerns and to see if the County had any suggestions to deal with it.
“It gave them a real context as to what is going on in the neighbourhood,” said King speaking to Today’s Northumberland.
King called the meeting “disappointing” stating it felt like the County was taking the approach, “it’s not the fault of Transition House.”
“We came away feeling they didn’t really hear our concerns.”
The group decided a petition may help raise enough public interest the Town of Cobourg and Northumberland County will act.
King has lived in the area of Transition House for over two decades and said since it changed to a low barrier facility it has dramatically changed.
“We started to notice more disruptions in terms of more EMS calls, and when the weather started getting warmer there was more and more people hanging out in the area. As it escalated people were sleeping on the street.”
“We even saw people doing drugs in the open then going back to Transition House.”
The neighbourhood has small children along with elderly people and a church, “so it was a big concern for us.”
“In a small town it’s hard to get away from any of the issues, so we need to think differently about the solutions.”
King said what works in a big city, may not work in a small rural town.
“What we’re hoping we’ll get from the town and county is more creative thinking about how to solve the problem.”
As a Associate Professor in Social Science & Humanities and a Program Director in Political Science she’s trying to find any documentation that deals with this type of issue in an area like Cobourg.
Unfortunately all the information she has found to this point deals with larger cities.
The group adamantly states they do not want Transition House to close, they just want it fixed.
“As soon as they went to the low-barrier model, there was a rapid increase in the public drug use, petty theft, attempted break-ins, break-ins.
So we want them to revert back to catering to the people who are stabilized in terms of addictions and other issues.”
“People who are really transitioning from homelessness.”
“It’s not because they’re homeless. The problem in my mind is the opioids where people are out of control.”
“In one respect the town and the county should have seen this coming because this is not a new problem.”
“They talk about building strong communities, but it’s really hard to build a strong community when people are afraid and when there is constant disruptions and break-ins.”
For anyone wishing to sign the petition click here
Emergency Services Have So Far Responded To Transition House In Cobourg Over 200 Times in 2019
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
