NAPANEE – Protesters gathered Monday outside Napanee’s town hall to fight the town’s threat to remove trailers that are housing homeless people.
The trailers are at a location informally named Stepping Stone Trailer Park, located in the backyard of a home on Dairy Avenue in Napanee. It has been housing homeless people for four years. The home and the trailers are owned by Scott Drader, who told QNet News Monday that he created the trailer park to help people with nowhere else to go.
After Scott Drader’s mother moved out of the trailer on the right, he allowed his son’s friend to move in, which gave Drader the idea for the park. Photo by Brittany Woodcock, QNet News
Many of the 13 people in the trailers are people he knows, Drader said, adding that he doesn’t want to see them out on the street.
Napanee’s council says the trailer park does not meet zoning bylaws. At a meeting Tuesday evening, the councillors voted to give a two week extension before making a final decision on the park.
Dylan Waters, 26, has been a resident of the park for four months. He says that if it closes down, he’ll have to go on a 10-year waiting list for affordable public housing.
“If you’re pregnant or getting away from an abusive relationship, you’ll go to the front of the list,” Waters said Monday. “But for an average bachelor my age, you’ll go on a 10-year waiting list.
“So it’s not really something put in place for the short term, because in 10 years I’m going to have my house and probably be fine.”
Several of the 20 protesters outside town hall Monday said that council should stop harassing Drader. Meghan Eagleton, 26, was one of them.
“Leave this poor man alone and let him do his thing. There is no harm being caused,” Eagleton said. “They’re all keeping to themselves in that little trailer park.”
“Until you have a better option (for housing), support this man,” a protester told Napanee Mayor Marg Isbester (right) during the protest. Photo by Brittany Woodcock, QNet News
But the mayor of Napanee, Marg Isbester, said she doesn’t want to have to worry “about a fire starting or someone freezing to death in (the trailers). I want to see them housed, but I want to see them housed properly.”
Isbester emerged from town hall Monday to speak to Drader, but the conversation was soon interrupted by angry protesters. Nevertheless, Isbester stayed talking to the group for about an hour.
When QNet asked Drader if the trailers are permanent, he said no.
“It’s a temporary solution to get (residents’) feet back on the ground and get themselves cleaned up,” he said.
But some of them face bigger challenges because of personal battles, Drader added. For those residents, he wants to take out the trailers and build tiny homes in their place. He just needs the town’s permission, he said.
But Isbester said he doesn’t have enough land for such a project.
“I don’t think he has enough property to do it properly. He’s on (municipal) water (lines) but he’s not on sewer,” she said. “You don’t want people living out of porta-potties. You want them to be able to have inside facilities for showers and so on.”
According to Drader, health officials, fire and electrical officials have no issues with his park or the property. He also added that Napanee’s fire prevention officer, Kevin Duncan, comes by every four months to make sure he’s following the department’s codes.
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