Group home in jeopardy due to community pushback

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This article was published 20/05/2024 (344 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A group home in Mitchell is in jeopardy of closing due to some opposition in the community.

El’dad is an organization that supports adults with intellectual disabilities by providing a residential program, a home share program, and support in the community for those that have their own apartments. It also runs a day program where people can work towards employment. It initially began in the 1980s as an alternative justice program for men who have been involved with the justice system and are looking to enter mainstream society. The group home in Mitchell is for adults with intellectual disabilities.

“And I think that part of the challenge that we have and El’dad has is that often people associate the services that we have with the initial service that we began with (alternative justice program). It’s unfair to the majority of participants that we support. We support a little over 100 individuals in various ways throughout the community and only a very, very small portion are involved in the alternative justice program,” said director of services Caoimhin Drain.

El’dad’s group home is located at 341 David’s Bay. It sits on a two-acre parcel classified as rural residential. After about a year of being in operation, El’dad realized that it didn’t meet the conditions of the classification. It contacted the RM of Hanover to get a permit to operate the group home for adults with intellectual disabilities.

“Most municipalities that we work with don’t require that so it was something that we completely missed, but once we were aware of it we went through the process of applying with the municipality to make sure everything was done properly,” said Caoimhin Drain, director of services.

The matter came before council on May 8 with opposition from three community members. In their letters and presentation to council, neighbours Alexej Nosowez and Kurt Plowman cited concerns regarding safety for children while neighbour Jordan Hammond was concerned about noise in the evening. One letter of support came from neighbour Francois Cyr.

When the home was first built, it was built with the intention of housing a certain individual. After about two days, the facility came to realize that this person could not be provided the care he needed as he was too disruptive in the community and with staff. He was sent to live in another home where his needs could be met. For a year now, there have been three residents living at the home being cared for 24/7 by a support worker for each resident. By having this level of care, El’dad claims this will prevent any disruption in the community and will provide peace of mind to local homeowners who have concerns.

“I think that there were some concerns with the community due to that initial placement. We have talked to the people that have brought that forward and assured them that this is not the same person that’s being supported. The people that are there (now) would not have those same concerns,” said Drain.

“Our services are really geared to people becoming more and more independent over time. The people in our residential homes have been identified as needing significant amount of supports at their current stage of development with the intention of, as is appropriate, to develop more and more independence over time. We have a number of different programs such as home share and cluster which allow people to have those opportunities for skill development and life skill development so they can become more independent and eventually have their own apartment – their own place – in the community,” he noted.

Council decided not to vote on the conditional use order at the meeting. Instead, it returned the matter to the planning committee for further discussion. Should El’dad not get the conditional use order it needs, it will have to shut down the group home. Council meets again May 22.