GuelphToday received the following letter from Barb McPhee regarding supportive housing:
I was very upset when I read the latest story from a community resident being so very negative about where the Kindle supportive housing building is being put.
Of all the areas around and if you are talking about supportive – this is one of the better places to be placed.
I have raised my children in the Onward Willow Complex and actually was part of the creation of the Onward Willow Centre and the Shelldale Centre for more than 20 years.
We have seen and heard it all – we lived next to a crack house, we were in lockdown a few times because of a drug related incidents, we have seen many children taken away from their parents because of mental illness.
We made some amazing lifetime friends who have mental, alcoholic and drug related issues and many of them have been able to regain awesome lives because of all the supports around them. I wish there had of been more supportive housing back then.
But I need you to take a look at my amazing children today – who are now raising their own amazing children – giving back to the community and supporting those in need – no matter what their issues and do you know why they do that – is because they were raised in among a community that was supportive and they got to see it all and we all learned together-how to deal with it and to support the people struggling.
They have always said to me all along that THEY ARE HUMANS BEINGS just like us. We have had our own struggles living with an alcohol relationship and living in shelters and having no food to eat. So why can't they live amongs the very strong supportive community they have around them.
When my husband passed away, there were some issues around my housing which resulted in me being homeless for almost three years.
These three years were when I was 58 to 61 years of age – living with mobility issues and eventually depression issues. In those three years I was able to sleep on peoples couches, sometimes in my car – for short periods of time in a trailer and for short periods of time with my family and periods of time in the shelter system. I would have given up everything to be able to have a chance at a supportive housing unit – where I could have gotten better help and be part of a community.
So lets not cut these people down for having lives not like ours and lets find them not just a house – but a home.
Barb McPhee
Guelph
