Christian charity’s Mississauga supportive housing development sparks resident fury

Critics of Christian charity Indwell’s proposed four-storey building at 1639 Lakeshore Rd. W. in Mississauga’s Clarkson neighbourhood say they haven’t been properly consulted and fear the development will endanger their community.

In a letter to local federal, provincial and municipal officials on behalf of a residents' group calling itself Coalition of Concerned Citizens, lawyer Jay Nester wrote allowing “drug addicts, alcohol abusers and the seriously mentally ill” to live at the Indwell project in Clarkson “will create a serious risk to the protection and safety of the community.”

In an interview with the Mississauga News, Nester said the federally-funded Indwell project warrants a thorough public consult to ensure resident concerns are addressed.

He says those resident concerns “are not being made up out of whole cloth, are not fanciful, but serious concerns based on what they see at other developments.”

Kelly Singh of More Homes Mississauga, a housing advocacy group that supports the Clarkson Indwell development, said “these are not people who simply want to be consulted so that they can express polite views on this and have a real discussion.”

There doesn’t appear to be requirements for a formal public consultation for the project, which as proposed, largely aligns with the zoning and site-use rules the city has in place for the property.

“This is very much a gentle density project that is very much in keeping with the character and population of the neighbourhood,” said Singh, who added that the Indwell project is part of a variety of different dwelling types needed to address the city’s housing crunch.

Last December, a petition launched calling for the planned supportive housing project to be stopped due to "numerous safety risks and other potential impacts" to Clarkson Village. As of March 4, the petition had 2,444 signatories.

The project also faced heated opposition at a Dec. 13 public meeting organized by local Mississauga Coun. Alvin Tedjo at the Clarkson Community Church, where several residents suggested the supportive housing development and its residents would worsen safety issues in the area.

In an interview with the Mississauga News, Tedjo said he understands the expectation that the Indwell project would need public consultation and approval from the city like a typical development, but said that’s not the case here because the charity is proposing a building style and use that is already permitted on the property.

He also said it could be a human-rights issue if the city tried to exclude specific community members in zoning rules.

“We do not regulate people and what people can live where, and that goes across the board for people with mental health issues, for people of different faiths, for different cultures and gender.”

For opponents of the project, Indwell’s history at other buildings appears to be front and centre.

Earlier incidents at an Indwell building in Hamilton came up several times during the December community meeting, including two resident deaths going undiscovered for days in 2019 and 2022 and a 2018 murder at the charity’s 57-unit Parkdale Landing residence.

Local resident Karen Allin was at the meeting and said she doesn’t trust Indwell to manage the Clarkson building safely based on issues at their other apartments.

She also said she doesn’t want residents with addiction issues living in Indwell's Clarkson development.

“Once you have drug addicts, you have drug dealers,” she said in an interview with the Mississauga News. “Drug dealers bring guns and other weapons.”

Indwell officials have said residents at Parkdale Landing typically experienced homelessness recently and have issues requiring more extensive supports compared to those planned to live at the Clarkson building.

The organization’s CEO, Jeff Neven, said the Clarkson program and the one at Parkdale Landing are “very different,” but that disabilities like addiction and mental illness won’t “disqualify” potential 1639 Lakeshore tenants.

“We’re looking at folks who are well into the journey of pursuing their life goals and ambitions and so this is kind of the next step for them,” he said.

The intake process for the Clarkson site is still being ironed out, Neven said, but the development’s residents are likely to be 55 or older, evenly split between men and women with around five per cent identifying as transgendered, non-binary and two-spirited.

Indwell, which announced the purchase of 1639 Lakeshore in October 2023, looks for properties that are in locations preferred by their tenants, including in walkable neighbourhoods near amenities like grocery stores, transit, pharmacies and community centres.

“For all the reasons that people who've chosen to live in Clarkson, love Clarkson, we like it, too,” he said.

Dr. Stephen Hwang, a University of Toronto professor and homelessness researcher, said there is no definitive data on whether supportive housing projects like the one proposed in Clarkson increase crime or adversely impact a neighbourhood.

He said the success of a supportive housing project depends on how well run the building is and whether there’s an appropriate amount of staff with good, engaged relationships with the tenants.

Effective engagement with the surrounding community, which entails resident concerns being heard and addressed, is important, Hwang said, but some issues are illegitimate.

“I think the whole idea that we can exclude people of a certain type who have certain health conditions from our community is really, I think, just wrong, frankly,” he said.

“Sometimes, it doesn't really matter what you come up with, there's some people who basically just come up with reason after reason that it can't be done.”

1639 Lakeshore Rd. W. is zoned main street commercial, allowing many residential and commercial uses, including retail stores, townhouses, apartment buildings and offices. The maximum building height for the site is three storeys.

Part of the property, which is just south of Turtle Creek and Birchwood Park, is also zoned for greenlands.

Coming in at four storeys, the 50-unit proposal may only need city staff approvals for its site plan, in which Mississauga planners evaluate elements like pedestrian and vehicle access, landscaping and lighting.

In an email, City of Mississauga spokesperson Irene McCutcheon wrote that Indwell’s proposal “largely falls within the requirements” of the city’s zoning bylaw for the area and will proceed through a minor variance process.

That means the four-storey building will have a future public hearing at the city’s committee of adjustment, which is made up of seven citizen members appointed by council, and Indwell will have to justify why they need additional height among other variances.

Residents will also have an opportunity to comment on the application at the hearing.

If the committee refuses the variance application, Indwell can appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal.

Indwell is proposing a commercial space on the ground floor and three floors of residential above. As of the December meeting, the charity was proposing 22 parking spaces, mostly at the back of the property.

According to city records, 1639 Lakeshore Rd. W. has been vacant for around 10 years after the one-storey structure where Home and Cottage Signs was located was demolished.

In 2011, the city received a site plan application for a two-storey animal care facility with overnight dog boarding that was later cancelled.

Indwell estimates that the development, which received $19.7 million in federal and regional supports, will take around 18 months to build once shovels are in the ground.