‘Disappointed’ Chatham-Kent business closes due to homeless encampment

A Chatham business is closing its doors for safety reasons, due to a homeless encampment across the street.

A Chatham-Kent ice cream shop is closed for the foreseeable future after the latest encounter with a homeless encampment.

The Beez Kneez Ice Cream truck on Grand Avenue East closed its doors in response to safety concerns over the nearby encampment on the Chatham-Kent Public Utilities Commission property.

Dustin Ryan is the co-owner of the ice cream truck and the Scrub Hub Car and Dog Wash, which are located on the same property.

Ryan told CTV News that they called 911 three times on July 31, as a result of homeless individuals inside the car wash bays. The third call was in response to an individual who was passed out and not breathing.

“They were very swift showing up on the third call, and when they did show up here… He was dead on arrival. They brought him back to life, which is good,” Ryan said.

Ryan couldn’t confirm whether the individual had made a full recovery.

The ice cream trailer consists of nine student employees and was intended to create more youth employment in the area. After the latest incident, Ryan and his business partner, Tyler McKaig-Campbell, fielded calls from parents concerned about whether it was safe to keep the trailer open.

“We don’t know that somebody is coming in here and doing drugs in our wash bay in the middle of the afternoon and overdosing and needing medical attention, we don’t predict that,” he said.

They closed the shop with no firm date for reopening.

Council decisions

Since the encampment moved to Grand Avenue East in mid-July, Ryan said their property has been vandalized and broken into repeatedly.

Previously, the encampment was located along the Thames River, but those living on-site were forced to leave due to construction work.

At a July 28 Chatham-Kent Council meeting, a motion to keep encampments 100 metres away from residential property was referred back to staff, effectively keeping the Grand Avenue encampment in place.

McKaig-Campbell was among the business owners and residents at the meeting who asked council for solutions.

“Let’s be real, this is a Band-Aid, and we’re going to peel the Band-Aid off and stick a Band-Aid on again somewhere else. We need a solution,” Ryan said.

The business owner added he’s hoping to see funding come from upper levels of government to help create more permanent solutions.

“I have compassion for them. I mean, it sucks that our whole province is dealing with this,” Ryan added.

The municipality did approve a list of initiatives intended to help bolster efforts to find housing for those in need and mitigate the impact of encampments.

At a meeting this month, a report is expected to provide appropriate locations for these encampments that fit within a 100, a 50, and a 25-metre setback radius.

Future of business

Ryan and McKaig-Campbell purchased the car wash in March after already owning investments around the region.

However, after their experience in recent weeks, Ryan said they’re “disappointed” they can no longer provide a place for people to be happy.

“It’s pretty sad to see our youth at their first summer job to have to grow up later and say, ‘Well, I’ve worked at an ice cream trailer for 10 minutes and then it got shut down,‘ it’s upsetting and it’s sad,” Ryan explained.

Because of the need for running water and electricity, Ryan said there are no other feasible options to move the trailer.

As for the car wash, Ryan said they are likely unable to sell the property due to the encampment.

“[Investors are] going to be like, whoa, we have a whole homeless community across the road at a cash-operating business,” he said.