'Home of last resort': When there's nowhere else to go

Falling through the cracks: York Region man struggles for dignity at Newmarket residence

Yorkregion.com
Aug. 15, 2022
Kim Zarzour

It’s been a tougher life than most for Ray Jackson.

Now, at the age of 64, the York Region man has fallen through the cracks, a life made worse, some say, thanks to Ontario’s broken safety net.

Those people say Jackson’s story is not uncommon and reflects a hidden problem with the way Ontario houses its most vulnerable populations.

Born with cataracts in both eyes, Jackson was abandoned as a baby, placed in foster care, bullied as a child and, at age 11, in a coma for three-and-a-half months after someone put a fist in his face.

He suffered brain injuries that left him fully blind.

For the rest of his years growing up, with artificial eyes replacing what he was born with and hearing aids helping him with partial deafness, he endured 36 surgeries and bounced from one foster home to the next -- 16 temporary homes by the time he reached 18.

His foster sister became a source of companionship and support, and they lived together as adults until she was diagnosed with cancer.

Jackson did his best to care for her, but in 2016, she died, and he found himself experiencing homelessness and feeling hopeless.

That’s when he fell off the deep end -- in debt, abusing drugs and alcohol, shuffling from one living accommodation to another.

Now sober for three years, his debts paid off, he has landed in a kind of no man’s land known as a “domiciliary hostel,” and it’s a life he wishes on no one.

Dom hostels, or “housing with supports” as they’re now called in York Region, offer housing and meals for people requiring supervision of daily living activities -- including the frail and older adults or those with a mental health diagnosis, physical or developmental disabilities.

Often, they are brought to these group homes -- many privately run and for-profit, located in rural areas where land is less expensive -- after being picked up for vagrancy or homelessness.

There are 22 such homes in York Region.

Jackson does not believe he belongs here. In fact, he doesn’t really understand who does belong in what he views as a home for “square pegs” and a last resort.

Newmarket Residence, a privately run dom-hostel in East Gwillimbury, is Jackson’s third such residence.

At each one, he says, he has suffered bullying, theft and mistreatment from other residents and staff -- he’s still hurting after an employee called him a “blind bastard.”

Drug users who live in the home pester him for money so he stays in his room, but it’s no sanctuary.

Like most dom-hostel residents, Jackson shares a room and bathroom. His roommate, Jackson says, stays up all night “singing and talking,” leaving messes that present tripping hazards for someone who is blind.

“I went into the washroom this morning in bare feet and there was urine all over the place. The house, they know I’m a clean person, but they don’t care.”

YorkRegion.com presented 18 questions and concerns to Newmarket Residence, hoping to hear owner Icilda Tate’s side of the story.

We received an email reply:

“The Newmarket Residence is a licensed congregate living facility. It is owned and operated since 2005 by health care professionals who provide housing with supports for individuals with mental health diagnosis.

“The facility continues to uphold the laws that govern congregate living facilities as outlined by the Regional Municipality of York Homelessness Community Programs Social Services.”

Megan Linton, one of Ontario’s foremost experts in domiciliary housing, says Jackson’s story is not unusual. Most dom-hostel residents, she says, are chronically unhoused, older and/or disabled, segregated from the community, living without privacy on a meagre allowance.

Because many residents deal with mental illness, staff are responsible for handling finances. Jackson is on ODSP. Every month, he gets a cheque for $896, he says. For discretionary expenses, he gets $86 in addition to $149 from the region; the rest goes to the rooming house.

The small amount of spending money he squirrels away helps pay for books on tape to keep his mind active, but Jackson says he has had those CDs stolen, along with cash that he has hidden in his room.

He added his name to York Region’s low-income housing apartment wait-list in 2016, but there are thousands in line ahead of him. One recent report from the region estimates it could take 12 years or more before a subsidized unit becomes available.

Canadian National Institute for the Blind's (CNIB) Anna Kristjanson says the CNIB does not help find housing. Instead, it focuses on mobility aids, life skills and technology assistance, peer support and social programs.

So for now, Jackson isolates himself in his half of his room, belongings in a locked trunk (the key around his neck), eating cold food from cans because he says it’s better than what the hostel serves and helps him avoid venturing out into the constant yelling in hallways and common spaces.

“I have my own can opener. I have my own kettle so I make my own coffee and green tea. I do everything in my room.”

He is doing his best to keep his dignity and independence with help from a tablet and a “Be My Eyes” app provided by Human Endeavour, a York Region-based charitable organization.

Noor Din, founder of Human Endeavour, got to know Jackson over the course of a year, visiting with him in the home and involving him in Human Endeavour activities. He was shocked by Jackson’s living conditions, extreme isolation and lack of support.

“The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees dignity and respect for every Canadian. However, Mr. Raymond Jackson has faced systemic barriers, discrimination, disrespect, bullying, abuse and loneliness at the hands of people supposed to take care of him,” Din wrote in an email to Yorkregion.com.

“His difficulties are compounded by a dysfunctional provincial support system where accountability is seriously lacking. The first major step to reclaim his dignity is a decent low-income housing where he can live peacefully and maintain his self-esteem.”

Jackson says he has accepted if something happens to him, no one will mourn. “Put me in a Ziploc and toss it into Lake Simcoe,” he says with a shrug.

But he’s not throwing in the towel yet. He still has dreams -- simple ones: a home where he can live independently and volunteer helping older adults. He hopes a reader of this article will be moved to help somehow.

“I don't care if it's a bachelor apartment. I don't need windows, because I can't see.”

Anything, he says, would be better than where he is now.

He also wants to shed light on this hidden housing problem for others also struggling to find a place to call home.