When Stephane Girard and his wife Donna Amos noticed extensive renovations being done to the other side of their semi on Lakeshore Drive, they were naturally curious about who their new neighbours might be.
They looked forward to meeting and getting to know them.
But their goodwill feelings turned into a nightmare when they learned that a government mental health organization had rented the building and started moving patients in, without any consultation.
"It's been a shitshow ever since they renovated. We thought it was a young couple, but Descon (owner) had their guys in there till one-thirty in the morning doing work," said Girard.
Nipissing Mental Health Housing and Support Services (NMHHSS) is a local mental health agency that specializes in support services to people with a serious mental illness and had expanded its facility next door at 780 Lakeshore Drive, using the semi as a "campus."
Since then life has become unbearable for the couple. They had put their house up for sale in the spring, planning a move to the east coast, but are now unable to sell.
"Surrounding neighbours had had issues with the clients going out and exposing themselves and pissing," Girard told BayToday.
Girard says police have been called multiple times, but the most horrifying event happened last month when firemen banged on their door shouting for them to get out, as the house was on fire.
One of the clients had set fire to his bedroom and firefighters scrambled to extinguish the blaze.
See: Fire damages Lakeshore semi
One of the clients was charged by police with arson.
See: Man Charged, Arson suspected in early morning fire
Girard says he's afraid of what might happen next.
"The city is telling us they can have up to eight residents in a three-bedroom house. Where's the fourth bedroom, in the basement? Because if it is, the windows aren't according to the fire code and should be illegal."
Stephane and Donna have asked Descon, the company that owns that half of the semi, to sell it and revert it back to a residential single family unit to allow the couple to sell their own half.
Descon has refused says Girard.
"They said, 'We'll do anything for you guys' and I said 'then sell', but they don't want to sell it and lose their investment, money is more important."
He says Descon has also refused to buy him out. "Not interested," he was told.
Multiple attempts by BayToday to get a response from Descon were not returned,
Meanwhile, efforts to negotiate with the Nipissing Mental Health staff were frustrating, says Girard, calling them "unhelpful and stand-offish."
He says he was told not to tell potential buyers who is living next door to him, to make selling easier.
"I would have loved to have got that in writing."
Girard says they have had a number of open houses and people interested, but potential buyers always leave without making an offer.
"It's been an issue because when people come out to look at it and there are three or four guys sitting there without shirts on yelling and screaming, or smoking and hacking, and the buyers look and say 'oh wow.'"
That claim is questioned by Board Chair Mike Bechard, who says board representatives spoke with Girard a couple of days ago.
"I drive Lakeshore pretty regularly and there's a number of houses that have been for sale for quite a period of time, so it really has nothing to do with the social housing that's beside him, and all around him actually. It really has to do with the real estate market at this time."
But Bechard concedes more discussion is needed. "it's not done. There is still work to be done. I can tell you that all options are on the table at this time."
NMHHSS Executive Director Mary Davis says Girard shouldn't have expected to be consulted on the move,
"We have individuals living throughout the community in many different types of housing and we would never go to anybody and knock on their door and ask permission to live next door, that's part of stigma. These individuals are deemed 100 per cent safe to live in the community and as such have a right to live where ever they want."
And she says these individuals are not dangerous.
"I can tell you that is not factual information. If someone is deemed able to live in the community, if there are specific things that could potentially be an issue, we address that as we prepare a care plan. It's a perception that people with mental health issues are dangerous, and that's not essentially true. We've had other fires in other buildings and we've had protocols that prevent them from spreading. This just tended to be a bigger deal."
Bechard says he hates to see one incident overshadow all the good work his group does. "We balance off a lot of issues with respect to this.community, and if an agency like us was not in place, I can tell you a lot of these individuals would be homeless.
"The process is still underway. I get his frustration but he has the power to reach out as well. We do have a solution in mind and we want to have a discussion with him with respect to that solution."
But Bechard won't disclose the solution.
"It wouldn't be fair to reveal it to anybody but him first. Our direction is to have a discussion with him and make sure we do the right thing. because we want to be good corporate and community citizens and we want to do the right thing "
But Girard hasn't seen any solution yet and has hired a lawyer.
"It's not fair. Our house went from $200,000 to nothing overnight because they moved in next door."
