Durham Region paid $5M more for a homeless shelter site than a developer did. Residents have questions

A decision by Durham Region to convert an empty long-term care home into an emergency homeless shelter is prompting criticism after the municipality paid a developer millions more for the property than he paid for it months earlier. 

A group of residents and a regional councillor say they're concerned about the use of taxpayer dollars after the region acquired the former Sunnycrest Nursing Home this past August at a price tag of $13.7 million from a company that paid just $8 million for it.

The region is defending the move, saying it will rapidly address a recent rise in homelessness and will save money over the long term.

The nursing home closed in April 2022 and was purchased by Toronto-based hospitality and development company Sunray Group, whose CEO is Rattan Gupta, property records show. That deal closed this past January.The region then paid the company $5.7 million more to acquire it in August of this year. Sunray Group did not respond to CBC News's request for comment. 

"I think the region got taken for a ride," said Pratik Sagar, who lives next to the site with his family.

"There's nothing out here that has happened in the locality that could have magically increased the price so much."

Oshawa resident Denise Boudreau said the deal shows a lack of financial responsibility.

"Communities are very concerned with how the costs are going to be pushed back on to the taxpayer and yet taxpayers don't have a say in how this money is being spent and the long-term costs," Boudreau said. 

Cost is just one of many concerns residents like Sagar and Boudreau have raised in the three months since the region announced plans to turn the building into a 45-bed shelter with wraparound supports.

They also say the region didn't adequately consult the public on the plan to locate the shelter in a residential area and worry it could disrupt the safety of the community, particularly given that the facility will operate as a "low-barrier" shelter.

According to the region, low-barrier shelters aim to remove systemic barriers —which can include having to produce identification, for example — to be more accessible to people with disabilities, seniors, those with pets, people from the 2SLGBTQI+ community, and those experiencing mental health and addiction challenges.

"With a low barrier shelter, there are no caps on the kind of people who would be let into the shelter," Sagar said. 

"I'm deeply concerned about the safety and the security of our children."

Homelessness has increased in both Whitby and across Durham region in recent years, according to region staff. The most recent data from September shows at least 373 people in Durham were experiencing homelessness in the region, 225 of whom had experienced homelessness for six months or longer. That's up from 152 people who were considered chronically homeless in February 2022