(Today’s Northumberland file photo)
By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Northumberland County council’s Social Services Committee got a look at what life is like on the user’s end of its shelter at 310 Division St. in Cobourg.
Michael “Chance” Brown acknowledged that his appearance was not something they might usually see.
“Most people who use these services are too busy trying to survive,” Brown said.
“That is why I’m here today.”
He moved to this community seven years ago and his current address is 310 Division St. – a long way down the road from a time when he “had a job, had housing, doing everything the system said I was supposed to.”
Since then, he has flitted from shelters to hotels, from the encampment to the streets.
“I know the system in this county inside and out, and I can tell you it’s not working for the people who need it the most,” he stated.
They did not even replace 20 recliners with as many chairs, he said – not that chairs are a good substitute.
“People are expected to sit upright throughout the night and the day in metal chairs – why are we not allowed to sleep?” he asked.
“Sleep deprivation is worse than doing drugs. Just try to stay up for 36 hours, 48, 72, with a 20-minute nap here and there. Your mind will be riddled.
“That is not support. That is cruelty, wrapped in red tape.”
Someone who leaves the warming hub in order to sleep is just going to sleep somewhere else, Brown added.
His friend Jenni Frenke – a long-time shelter worker and volunteer – agreed this is a problem and even a health hazard. In fact, sleep deprivation is recognized as a method of torture.
“I see the staff as caring people doing their best, and they are so conflicted about the laws and the liabilities, and now people can’t even sleep? How is that better?” Frenke said.
One problem that took a personal toll on Brown was the fact that the lockers are always full, and when someone leaves his or her belongings long enough, they get junked. When he was hospitalized last winter and could not get back to his locker, for example, he lost his ID, gifts from his kids and a friend’s ashes.
If the lockers have to be emptied periodically, he asked, could those items not be kept for a specified time so they won’t be lost.
Brown did offer an idea that he believed would serve the occupants of 310 Division – working with volunteers and harm-reduction professionals to create a peer-support staffing model to supplement paid staff to do the transformative work they want to accomplish.
“There’s many people in my community willing to come and talk and have meetings and work collaboratively together – I hope that can happen in the future,” he said.
