City Of Toronto-Largest Slum Landlord???

,,,,where is The Affordable Housing Czar G. Mammolliti?

When help is trumped by civil rights Star.com - GTA - When help is trumped by civil rights

Joe Fiorito

The thesis: If you are vulnerable and you live in public housing, you're in trouble. No one is looking out for you.The staff of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation are not social workers; building superintendents are concerned with maintenance, not with the lives of tenants. If you start to slip in social housing, you may fall.As in the case of Dirty George, it won't be pretty.

What is a person to do? As we know from Monday's column, if you notice your neighbour slipping, you might call public health.We also learned that if you do, you had better be clever enough to describe the situation in such a way as to communicate a sense of urgency. That does not mean you should shout or be hysterical. That means you should be clear and direct about the scope of the problem. Only then is public health likely to send a nurse to make a home visit.But even then, the Privacy Act means a nurse might not get past the door.

Some people have suggested that, if you are concerned about a Dirty George, you might try calling the nearest Community Care Access Centre.Don Ford is the executive director of the Central East CCAC. His office is in Whitby but he came in to the Scarborough office so we could chat face to face. I caught him off guard when I told him I'd called the CCAC to ask for directions and spent what felt like a couple of minutes on hold.He frowned – that's a long time on hold – and I could see him making a mental note.

I put the question to him: Is the CCAC the place to call when you notice your neighbour slipping? He said, "Anyone can make a referral to the CCAC. You should provide us with the name and the details so we can determine what to do."The good news: "We are not required to go through a physician. A phone call, with the name and the location, is enough." That's promising.And then, "We do need the consent of the individual to intervene. We can't break down a door."

That old story again. And this is the bad news: A person whose judgment is impaired may not want to accept help, and that person has the right to refuse help – even if the way they are living is a threat to their neighbours.He repeated the stopper: "We can't intrude in a person's life." I said that was a conundrum. He said, "It is a conundrum – there is the potential that a service can be made available, but we can't break a person's civil rights."

So what happens if there was a problem but the person in need refuses help? "We'd have to determine what our options might be to conduct an assessment." That sounds vague, but every case is different. Assuming all goes well, what services does the CCAC offer? "We are able to provide personal support workers; people who can help someone get dressed, get up, get ready for bed, have a bath; we have nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dieticians, psychologists and social workers who can go in and develop a plan; some of our case managers are expert in issues of mental health."

But a person can say no?

"That's the trump card."

I made an observation about the fragmentation of the health system and the confusing array of services. He agreed with Liz Janzen, of public health. He said, "The most challenging component ... is managing the hand-offs, the transitions where different agencies work together. "I am not reassured.