A residential home for vulnerable adults with special needs in Leamington, Ont. is denying allegations that it provided sub-standard care and endangered residents.
Essex County notified Leamington Lodge, located at 24 Russell St., that it will be ending its contract to subsidize care for more than 40 residents by May 31 back in April.
An affidavit filed in a legal action brought by the county in Superior Court listed numerous allegations of "illicit activities" that include: "incidents of violence, drug trafficking, weapons-related offences, assaults and sexual assaults."
The county also alleges the home provided sub-standard care and didn't comply with health and safety and staffing requirements; including recent measures put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to court documents, the county repeatedly attempted to work with the lodge to address concerns but "conditions and quality of care at Leamington Lodge deteriorated such that the health, safety and well-being of residents are being increasingly jeopardized."
In a statement released through Windsor law firm Colautti Landry Partners, lodge administrator Kathy Edwards called the county's decision to end the contract "heavy handed" and the accusations, "baseless ... unfounded and wrong."
Lawyer Raymond Colautti tells AM800 News he'll be seeking an injunction until the lodge can have its day in court and find alternative funding.
"We think that the full story wasn't put in front of the judge and that's one of the issues. We're going to have to take a run at that and I think the odds are pretty good that, on an interim basis, we can get it reversed," he says.
After the home barred county officials from entering the building to arrange new homes for residents, County Solicitor David Sundin says legal action that brought the allegations forward was unavoidable.
"The county has the right to unilaterally terminate the contract with 30 days' notice, which is what they've done," he says. "They also have the right to terminate the agreement if there's a failure to maintain standards, which they've also alleged as an alternate reason to terminate the contract."
He tells AM800 News the courts ordered the home to allow county officials access to the building Friday, and "the county has met with all of the residents to give them their options as far as re-locating."
In a statement, the lodge administrator Edwards says residents at the home are a vulnerable group and they could wind up homeless.
Sundin says the decision to terminate the contract came in February, but officials held off on giving notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The county will be paying to move residents to a new facility, so Sundin says no one will wind up homeless unless they choose to be.
"Some of the comments have been that the county's going to leave people homeless during the pandemic, that's completely untrue. The county handled this very responsibly and made sure that there were alternate residences already lined up before they gave notice of termination," he added.
Plans to relocate people may not work for everybody at the facility, according to Colautti.
"Are they moving them to the same town? They're taking them out of the community that they live in ... it's up to the residents and they may not want to go," he says. "If they don't go then I think that we have to look at different sources of funding for them."
The county first entered into an agreement with Leamington Lodge in 1981, agreeing to subsidize the living expenses of residents placed there.
Since the original agreement a number of renewals were made, with the latest coming in 2015.
None of the accusations have been proven in court.