By Thia James

POLL: Mayor throws support behind new group home proposals

Jan 13, 2015 | 5:34 AM

With three proposals to open up new group homes set to come to Prince Albert’s city council next week, Mayor Greg Dionne is preparing to counter the arguments the homes will drive down property values.

At Monday’s executive committee meeting, Dionne asked administration to gather information about the number of group homes in the Crescent Acres area, as well as about property values. The report will be forwarded to all councillors ahead of the next council meeting. It will focus on a handful of residential streets in particular, Telfer Bay, Longpre Crescent, Olive Diefenbaker Drive and Attree Bay.

“If you look at the [four] I just talked about, that argument sort of goes … aside. I want to make sure when I speak next week, that council is fully aware of all the information,” Dionne said during the meeting.

He went on to say that this is part of his response to the comments he’s anticipating council will hear from area residents. “And in these areas, I’ve talked to these people and that [lowered property values] has not occurred.”

One of the proposals is from Sundance Haven, which is now looking to move to 850 Fifth Street East. The home will house five girls between the ages of 13-18 years.

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And according to Lynda Douglas, with the Native Coordinating Council (NCC), which has operated the home for the past eight years, they’re looking to relocate from the current site at 2010 First Avenue East because “even with renovations completed in 2009, it no longer meets the needs or standards of a home for female youth.”

Douglas’ letter described the home and the structure in place for its young residents. The girls are supervised by staff 24/7 and are never left alone, she wrote and she added the staff does not sleep overnight.

“The youth are not delinquents or in trouble with the law as our purpose is to mentor them so that does not happen and guide them to be independent responsible adults in our society. The youth we mentor can’t live at home due to parent issues and not the youth[s’],” she wrote.

Sundance Haven’s proposal to move to a location on Mahon Drive was rejected by council in November, on the grounds that the home would contribute to traffic and parking problems in the area. 

That proposal had been the subject of a petition and more than 30 letters, voicing the disapproval of homeowners in the Mahon Drive area.

It’s one of three applications that will be presented to council next Monday.

Ashlee Schmidt, who recently moved from Saskatoon to Prince Albert is looking to apply for a care home licence to run an approved private care home for adults with special needs. The home would be located at 24 Smiley Drive. Schmidt plans to move into the home in July.

In a letter to area residents, Schmidt wrote that the four adults living in her home would require 24-hour care, but would work at a full-time job during the week and during regular business hours. The garage will house her vehicles and any additional means of transportation needed, she added.

“There will be no impact on traffic flow or parking on the street, as the residents of my care home do not drive. I will be the only person caring for the residents, and my son and I will be the only ones living in my home with them.”

The four adults living at the home with Schmidt and her son would have mild to moderate cognitive impairment.

The third proposal is for an assisted-living home for four adults and would also be licenced. It would be located at 1114 Wyllie Crescent, and would be operated by Nick and Cindy Galema.

The couple has owned the home for the last three years, and as Cindy wrote in a letter to the area`s residents, for medical reasons, her husband needs to change his career and it would become Nick`s full-time job, 24 hours a day, to take care of the home’s residents.

The letter made note of the fact that traffic would not be impacted because they would not have staff at the home nor would the residents drive.

“Upon our approval with the ministry of health, we would be selecting the residents that are the best fit with our family and our neighbourhood,” the letter said.

The latter two applications could help chip away at the deficit of assisted living spaces in the city.

After the meeting, Dionne said the applications for group homes spiked because of the shortage of assisted-living beds. He said Caleb Group approached the City with an application to build a 94-bed complex too.

“But it’s just the need in our community.”

Changing attitudes towards group homes

For Dionne, Prince Albert residents are becoming more accepting of group homes. “The stigma of the old-style group homes [is] wearing off. The old [style] group homes, there were 10 or 12, now there’s five or seven, they’re more manageable, they’re in people’s homes.”

But he said that a lot of the reason there still is some stigma is the use of the vague term “group home,” which he said we need to get away from. He said there really is no definition of what it is.

Dionne said a perfect example of the problem with this vagueness is Sundance Haven’s initial application that council rejected in November. He said residents thought the girls had criminal records, or were convicts ordered to stay at the home by the court.

He advocates for specificity, such as labelling the homes a “seniors’ care home” or a “disabled special care home.”

“It should be what it is,” he said. “A ‘group home’ is just too generic.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames