On the heels of a rare ‘Order to Close’ being issued by the Ontario Fire Marshall following a deadly blaze on Oxford Street East, an official with the Canadian Mental Health Association is speaking out.
Monday’s fire, which broke out at a three-storey walk up building, housed those struggling with addiction or mental health issues.
On Wednesday, London Police confirmed one person died as a result of the injuries they suffered, while more than two dozen others remain displaced.
Now, the CMHA is hoping for action.
“I think we need to look at basically – how do these unregulated, unlicensed homes come into being?” Head of the London chapter of the CMHA, Don Seymore, said on AM980’s The Craig Needles Show on Thursday.
“We’re all aware of them but ultimately what it boils down to for us is: there’s not enough affordable, supportive housing for folks that are struggling with mental health or addictions issues. So in that void steps private operators such as People Helping People.”
The building is operated by Keith Charles, who runs People Helping People – a self-described volunteer support group, which claims to assist individuals with mental illness and addiction. At a news conference Wednesday night, Charles stated that the condition of the building was not his responsibility.
“My responsibility is not the rental component; my responsibility is the recover from mental health and addiction. That’s what I focus on, I don’t focus on anything. I deal with lives, I don’t deal with structures.”
But Seymore argues that Charles was crowding marginalized people into an unsafe building.
“He’s unlicensed, unregulated,” says Seymore. “Whether it’s a criminal investigation or an inquest, this needs to be brought to the light of day somehow and, looking, ultimately we will have to look at how we can prevent this from ever happening again.”
Aside from some of the units in the building not having working smoke alarms, the structure also had no fire alarm system, non-functional emergency lighting, and a compromised electrical system.
With files from Trudy Shaw.
