Dave and Loralee Marshall were “so relieved” when they found what they hoped would be their daughter Crystal’s “forever home.”
Crystal, 43, has a visual disability, cerebral palsy and autism. She had been on a waitlist for a group home for several years because her parents “realized that as we age, we are not going to be able to look after Crystal to the extent that she needed care.”
The Marshalls, now-retired farmers living in Exeter, said they worried about who would care for their daughter — that was, until they found Jake’s House Community Residences about 20 minutes away in Lucan in 2023.
“That's her forever home,” said Dave, with Loralee adding that their daughter “loves it.”
Jake’s House Community Residences opened in 2020 as a combined “supportive independent living” accommodation for both seniors and adults with disabilities.
But after the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services ended a funding agreement with Jake’s House charity for the home — which aims to provide “meaningful support to families living with autism across the country” — last fall, a battle ensued between the government and those operating the home.
Families of residents say they still don’t understand why funding was stopped, and some have started turning to the provincial ombudsman and groups like Autism Ontario seeking help — worried that if funding isn’t restored, or private funding isn’t secured, their loved one will have to leave.
The Marshalls said they’re “very concerned” about the future of their daughter’s stay at the residence.
“She would be back with us, and probably she would be back in her room into a depression, probably very quickly,” said Dave, noting that Crystal had experienced depression when living at home, particularly when the day programs she attended stopped during the pandemic.
“There's a reason why we end up with people that are homeless sometimes,” said Loralee. “If we weren't here … I don't want to think about what would happen.”
She said when Crystal moved to the Lucan residence, “it felt like the world was off our shoulders.”
“You want the best for (your children), to know that she's happy and healthy, that's all you really want and that's what we have had at Jake's House,” Loralee said.
With thousands on the waitlist for supportive housing, the Marshalls said they don’t understand how the province could “morally, axe something that is really working well.”
A report released last June by the province's Financial Accountability Office revealed that the number of Ontarians with developmental disabilities waiting for supportive housing has grown by 10,000 since 2017-18 to 28,128 people in 2023-24.
“There aren't any alternatives, and certainly not ones that are near as good as what Jake's House is,” said Loralee, adding that their hope is for the ministry to “resume the funding completely.”
The Marshals sent an email to Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé’s office, calling the ministry’s actions “inexcusable and immoral.”
Taylor and Tina Wilson, whose son Heath, 24, has been living at Jake’s House Community Residences for nearly three years, also reached out to Dubé’s office.
“My son is happy, healthy and loves living at Jake’s House and should be able to continue to live at a home of his choosing,” Tina wrote to the ombudsman. “If there are areas of concerns that ministry has, until this can be resolved, they should NOT be cutting off his funding and forcing him to find another place to live.”
She went on to note that they feel there is “no equal substitute” accommodation for Heath, and that “our loved ones are being punished for a dispute between MCCSS/(Developmental Services Ontario) and Jake’s House.”
Heath, who has autism and developmental delays, is mostly non-verbal and doesn’t understand safety, his father told The Trillium.
“He has flourished since that day, it is his home, he now shaves himself with help ... does his laundry with help,” he said. “I never would have thought he’d be able to live like this.”
“We won’t stop fighting this cruel decision that will devastate our son and put him at risk in (an) inferior setting,” he added.
Citing confidentiality, Dubé’s office wouldn’t say whether or not it had received complaints on this issue.
Karen Willis, whose 60-year-old brother moved to the residence in Lucan in 2023, said she’s reached out to Autism Ontario.
“We were really hoping this would be Larry's forever home, and that was the whole intention when we moved him in there,” she said.
“This difficult situation highlights the continuing urgency for thousands of autistic citizens to access affordable, supportive, and stable housing across Ontario – a place they can truly call home within an inclusive community,” Marg Spoelstra, CEO of the organization, said in a statement.
She said Ontario needs to create a “range of flexible housing solutions that support individual needs and provide assurances to families both now and for the time when they are no longer here to support their loved ones.”
Jeannette Wannamaker’s brother Paul, 63, and his wife Ruth, 54, both with cognitive impairments and some medical issues, have lived at Jake’s House Community Residence since the end of 2021.
“I'm devastated at the thought that they might lose something that is such a perfect fit for them, something that they love, with nowhere else to go,” said Wannamaker, noting that both Paul and Ruth have been “adamant” about not wanting to live in a group home.
She said their current residence has a gym, community garden, recreation room, cooked meals, access to 24/7 nursing care and visits from a doctor.
“They absolutely love it. They're living their best lives ever. They're happy. They're involved in the community. They've got friends. They feel like they have a family, an extended family there,” she said.
Wannamaker and other family members of residents have said they’ve been unable to “get an answer for why they were removing funding” and have just received “vague responses.”
A letter families received last fall included an FAQ page from the ministry, which noted that the ministry ended the agreement with Jake’s House “due to concerns regarding financial practices, governance and operations.”
It went on to say that Developmental Services Ontario would help match individuals “to a new service, which you can choose to accept or decline.”
In response to questions, a ministry spokesperson sent a statement noting that staff informed Jake’s House leadership “of its decision to terminate our transfer payment agreement with them due to ongoing compliance concerns, effective December 3, 2024,” in early October.
“Follow-up correspondence to Jake’s House outlined required action items to inform all Jake’s House Community Residences residents of the wind-down process and supporting them with exploring alternative ministry-funded options through the developmental services system,” the spokesperson wrote.
The spokesperson did not answer questions related to any reviews or audits that were conducted prior to stopping funding or what specific concerns the ministry had over the charity’s "financial practices, governance and operations.”
David Bodanis, co-founder of Jake’s House charity, said the idea of creating a residence with both adults with disabilities and seniors was discussed with provincial officials in 2019 and that the residence would house up to 30 residents with disabilities.
He said he believes the decision to end the funding agreement was “political.”
“There's only one reason that that funding cut happened, and that's because a small group of people decided that they didn't like the nature of our delivery,” he said, adding that some assert it’s an “institution” — a view several families of residents disagreed with.
“Historically speaking, 20, 30, 40 years ago, there were horrible, horrible experiences with large buildings that house people with special needs, they were not serviced properly," said Bodanis, adding that he assured Doug Ford during a 2019 meeting that “we would not replicate anything that looked close to that model.”
Bodanis said the province was covering about $7,000 in costs per resident each month, and claimed that some funding hadn’t come through yet.
While he’s trying to explore alternative funding, Bodanis said even if he was able to arrange something, it would be difficult to do “without some type of interruption,” adding that currently the cost is a “personal obligation” for him and his wife.
“How low are you as a government official that you are withholding money for food, for shelter, for individuals that can't take care of themselves? These are people with special needs, these are literally our most vulnerable,” Bodanis said.
“You gave us two-months notice and now where are they supposed to go?” he said. “The options are hospitals and shelters.”
Diana Simpson, executive director of Jake’s House Community Residences, noted some of the positive experiences she’s seen.
“Whether it's their loved one doing laundry for the first time in their life, because we have that support here, or for them being able to take a vacation for the first time and not worry about where their loved one is,” she said. “It's very disheartening. The province basically abdicated their responsibility to the residents of this home.”