A Centretown landlord says repeated incidents involving trespassing, drug use and police calls near his Argyle Avenue property have made it increasingly difficult for his tenants to feel safe. Josh Zaret, who owns a property at 252 Argyle Avenue, says conditions around the building have worsened over the past eight to 12 months. “It’s just gotten to a point where it’s no longer tenable to own and operate businesses in the Centretown area,” Zaret said. He says people have slept on the property, left behind needles and human waste, and caused concerns for tenants and visitors. Zaret has installed cameras, motion-sensor lights, and temporary fencing around the parking lot in an effort to keep people off the property. “We’re doing everything we can,” he said. “I rely on these tenants being able to rent, live here, come to work, feel safe, and unfortunately, that’s no longer the situation.” Zaret says the vacant property immediately next door is compounding the problem. The building at 254 Argyle Avenue is the former Église Christ-Roi, a deconsecrated heritage church dating to the 1930s. City records show the property is slated for redevelopment into a nine-story building with 84 residential units and ground-floor commercial space. Plans call for the former church to be integrated into the redevelopment. In the meantime, Zaret says people have repeatedly entered the vacant property and congregated around it. “Firstly, the city needs to start to enforce property standards on the building next door,” he said. “It needs to be properly boarded up.” Zaret says Ottawa police were called to the area twice within a matter of hours earlier this week. He says officers were first called to clear people away from the vacant church. Later that afternoon, Zaret says a man carrying a box cutter chased another person who was walking a dog through the area. “When you have to call the police twice in an afternoon, on a single day, it’s just impossible,” he said. Zaret says his criticism is not directed at Ottawa police, whom he praised for responding to incidents around the property. “The relationship that we have with the police is really quite excellent,” he said. “But that’s reactionary.” He says he wants to see more preventative action from the city, including stronger enforcement of property standards at the vacant church. A few doors away, Centre 507 operates a 24-hour drop-in and meal program for people in need. Executive director Richard LeBlanc says the organization has seen an increase this summer in the number of people experiencing homelessness and struggling with substance use. “We do recognize that our neighbours are impacted by the volume of people accessing our services,” LeBlanc said. Centre 507 is not a shelter and does not provide beds, but LeBlanc says it offers meals and other supports around the clock. He says staff work with Ottawa police and outreach teams and try to move people away from neighboring properties when possible. LeBlanc says business in parts of downtown Ottawa are feeling the effects of a much broader homelessness crisis. “You have to really validate that the businesses do have reason to complain but also understand that the social services agencies have a large number of people that do need help and support at the same time,” he said. Somerset Ward Coun. Ariel Troster says the pressure on Centre 507 and other services in Centretown has reached unsustainable levels. “More people need the service than they have room for, and there’s also an overflow effect,” Troster said. Troster says the city needs to provide more services for people experiencing homelessness and addiction but argues those supports also need to be distributed more widely across Ottawa rather than concentrated in the downtown core. “We need more of these services, but we need them spread out,” she said. “We need smaller, more local locations for people to get help and we need to give services like Centre 507 a better home that is better suited for their clientele and also better suited to the neighbourhood.” Troster also says bylaw and police have been attending the vacant church next to Zaret’s property. “Both police and bylaw are going to be compelling the building owner to secure the property even more,” Troster said. She says more police, bylaw officers and outreach workers can help address immediate problems but cautions that enforcement alone can simply shift the issue from one location to another. Zaret says he recognizes the people involved need access to social services but believes businesses and property owners in the area are being left to deal with too much of the impact. “We need action and we need it from the city urgently,” he said.
