The man behind an illegal trailer park for homeless people in Greater Napanee, Ont., says he won't see his tenants evicted, no matter what municipal officials order him to do.

"It's got so big that now they don't know what to do," Scott Drader, 50, said in a recent phone interview from his half-hectare property on the town's industrial outskirts, where he lives in a four-bedroom house with his 22-year-old son and mother.

Drader's mother had been staying in a small trailer behind the house during the warmer months, but when she became ill she moved into the house with her son and grandson.

This past winter, a couple his son went to school with asked to move into the vacant trailer. They're both in the process of transitioning to their self-identified genders and had left home, Drader said.

Drader called Napanee's social services department to make sure the trailer qualified as a residence, because if it didn't the couple would have been ineligible for a housing allowance.

Call from social services

"The lady [from the social services department] phoned me to confirm that they were going in the trailer," Drader said.

But it didn't stop there.

The only thing the town is concerned about right now is public safety. - Greater Napanee Mayor Gordon Schermerhorn

"A week later I got a phone call to see if I could get another trailer to house [another man], and then it just kept going," Drader said.

"I didn't think I was doing anything wrong because, you have ... an Ontario government agency actually phoning you."

Drader refused to identify the women who called him, saying he didn't want to put anyone's job at risk.

6 trailers and growing

Since then Drader has bought another five trailers on Kijiji. In addition to the original couple, their occupants now include a family of three, a pregnant woman who's due to give birth next month and two single men.

A veteran who had been staying in one of the six trailers left earlier this month, and Drader said another single man plans to move in this week.

There are six trailers on the property, including these. Scott Drader said he buys them on Kijiji. (Scott Drader)

He charges tenants who receive the Ontario Disability Support Program shelter allowance $450 per month, while tenants on welfare pay $380. Drader said he's used about half that income to buy more trailers — he's planning to add about two per month — and the rest goes toward his bills.

He retired nine years ago from a 20-year career in a hospital laundry department, he said, and insists the shelter operation is not his primary income.

Dozens on waiting list

Drader claims he has a waiting list of about 60 people looking for a place to stay, including a family of three whose uninsured home was recently destroyed by fire.

News of the growing trailer village spread fast, and now an encampment of about 20 people living in tents has sprouted up on a wooded lot next door, but Drader, who doesn't own the property, said he has "nothing to do with" them.

A fire inspector has been out to make sure the trailers on his property have smoke alarms, and he said he's got $2 million in liability insurance for his own property and $17,000 in coverage for each of his "outbuildings."

But Drader said he got a call from his insurance company after his story made the local news, and is now in the process of upgrading his coverage.

This is another of the six trailers on Scott Drader's property. (Scott Drader)

Town working on 'longer-term solution'

Meanwhile the municipality is trying to figure out how to approach Drader's operation, which it says flouts numerous rules.

Greater Napanee is a lower-tier municipality where social services are overseen by Lennox and Addington County.

Brandt Zatterberg, the town's general manager of community and corporate services, said by phone Wednesday that town officials have met with the county about Drader's operation to discuss next steps. Another meeting was scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

For now, town council has decided not to engage in "heavy-handed [zoning bylaw] enforcement," he said.

"The county level has organized agencies together to try and come up with a solution, and we're working with them and the agencies to try and find a longer-term solution to the homelessness issue that Napanee is facing."

'We can't win as a town'

Drader could file a rezoning application as a first step to making his operation legal but hasn't done so, saying it would cost him about $100,000.

But Mayor Gordon Schermerhorn said the actual cost of the application is closer to $2,500 to $3,000.

"The only thing the town is concerned about right now is public safety. He's breaking the zoning bylaws ... he has not met the building codes for his own house," Schermerhorn said by phone Wednesday. "We will have to, at some point in time ... make Mr. Drader abide by the zoning bylaws."

Schermerhorn admitted the town's in a tough spot.

"We can't win as a town. We can't win this situation. We've had dealings with this man before. We can't win unless we get court orders and everything else."

'They're not going anyplace'

At a town council meeting Tuesday night, Drader addressed councillors about his operation and planned to ask for a special variance to operate a trailer park on his property. Zatterberg said a rezoning application is the only way to move forward.

But as of this week Drader said he hadn't received any official zoning violation or reprimand, and that no one from bylaw services has been out to his property.

Drader vowed his tenants aren't going anywhere.

"They're not going anyplace. These guys have been here long enough that we all sit around the campfire and sit and talk. We act like family now."

He seemed especially concerned for the trans couple.

"If they walked up and asked to rent an apartment in this town, they would never get one. It doesn't matter if they have the money to rent it, they will never get it. And I am not seeing them kids on the street, even if I have to put them in my own house. They are not going to be thrown out."