When residents in the Golden Triangle found out last month that a halfway house for federal offenders was moving into their neighbourhood, their reaction was predictable: They didn't want it.

Not only are they deeply concerned about the safety of their families — 157 McLeod St. is just blocks from Elgin Street Public School and one street over from St. Luke's Park — they're stunned that a home for men serving out sentences for serious crimes can set up shop without any consultation.

They also can't understand why this new halfway house is allowed to be established just a few blocks from an existing one.

A halfway house is moving into this leafy residential street in the Golden Triangle. (CBC) Before anyone dismisses their stance as so much NIMBY-ism, two facts should be considered. First, almost any other community would have the same gut reaction. And second, in this particular case, one neighbour opposed to the plan was sexually assaulted decades ago by a man recently released from prison.

Brutal assault

She was just 15 when she was assaulted on her way home from school.

"I was in the yard, the baseball field," said the woman. "He'd been drinking. He approached me and he jumped on top of me. He had a beer bottle with him, he pinned me down, he broke the beer bottle and inserted it inside me."

Over the years, the now 40-something woman — CBC has agreed not to use her name — learned to cope with the trauma, in part through therapy.

But the equanimity she has struggled to maintain was shattered when she discovered a halfway house was moving in nearby.

For the past several weeks, she's had to increase her therapy sessions, from a little less than once a month, to three times a week. She says she gets panic attacks, she throws up.

"It's just every time, going past the house," she says of 157 McLeod, her voice trailing off.

Halfway house a fait accompli

In mid-May, residents received a letter from House of Hope, an Ottawa-based non-profit that operates a halfway house at 32 Gilmour St., about 750 metres away.

The letter informed them that House of Hope had bought the McLeod house — records show it was purchased for $723,000 in March — and would be providing "housing and case management support," likely starting early next year, to 10 federal offenders on early parole.

"We were shocked, we were really shocked," said Suki Lee, who lives down the street with her partner. The couple is part of a core group of residents calling themselves Centretown Families, trying to stop the halfway house.

McLeod Street resident Suki Lee was shocked to find out a halfway home is opening on her street without any community consultation. (CBC)

Lee was surprised to discover that House of Hope is under no obligation to inform anyone about its plans. The letter was a courtesy. The city contends that no special zoning is required, although the McLeod residents are disputing that. The only rule is that these homes must be at least 300 metres apart.

Both the city and the area's councillor, Catherine McKenney, say the municipality has nothing to do with setting up halfway houses. House of Hope is under contract to Correctional Service of Canada, but the federal department keeps a low profile.

"We thought it would be quite straightforward to talk to the city about it," said Lee. "But it hasn't been. And we've been shuffled from one person to the other."

'They don't want to go back to prison'

There are five halfway houses for federal offenders in Ottawa designed to help low-risk offenders who show promise of re-integration into society. Applicants to the program are closely vetted by federal correctional officials, parole officials and House of Hope.

As Sgt. Reno Rushford, the head of Ottawa police's high-risk offender section says, the men who live in them tend to be "on their best behaviour — they don't want to go back to prison."

To serve time in federal prison, an offender would have been sentenced to more than two years, for crimes that range from break and enter, to fraud, to aggravated assault.

Asked if someone convicted of sexual assault could move into 157 McLeod, House of Hope officials said it was possible.

Along with the three Centretown halfway houses already operating, there's one each in Vanier and Hintonburg.

Despite having three times Ottawa's population, Toronto has just five halfway houses. Corrections Services Canada didn't have a clear answer for why that's the case.

Rebecca Kulik and her husband live next door to the new halfway house on McLeod Street.

"I think the fact that the city of Toronto has five halfway houses, and Centretown will now be on its fourth, is pretty crazy," said Rebecca Kulik.

She and her husband bought the house next door to 157 McLeod just last summer. They plan to start a family, and are shaken by the prospect of living cheek-to-jowl with federal offenders.

Support for halfway houses

Studies show that halfway houses are quite successful at helping offenders reintegrate into society. House of Hope's own statistics show that over the past 13 years, only 1.4 per cent of its clients at 32 Gilmour were returned to federal prison for committing a new offence.

And the group says it has a wonderful relationship with its Gilmour neighbours.

"We hear stories about how the neighbours appreciated the help from our clients in shovelling their driveways," said Rebecca Jesseman, the vice-president of the House of Hope board of directors.

One of the Gilmour neighbours even wrote a letter of support for the new House of Hope location.

McKenney understands why residents are worried. But she said the evidence is clear that halfway houses in residential areas work and supports the new one on McLeod.

"This will be the fourth one in the ward," the Somerset ward councillor said. "I've never received a complaint about one of them."

Sgt. Reno Rushford with the Ottawa police high-risk sector says there are few complaints about the downtown halfway house. (Laurie Fagan/CBC) Ottawa police confirm that record.

"I'm sure if I went in to search, I'd be hard-pressed to find any complaints," said Rushford.

Nor does he see an issue with halfway houses being concentrated downtown. Partly because they have a curfew, their residents need quick access to services, including drug-treatment programs and work sites, that are largely in the core.

But opponents aren't buying that argument. There are plenty of neighbourhoods, they say, with easy access to the Transitway. If residential integration is such a great idea, why isn't it a great idea for every community?

"Being a survivor of rape, I fully support correctional facilities, just not so close together," said the woman who is reeling from the news of the halfway house.

And it's hard for her to be persuaded by low re-offending rates. "In my mind, whatever statistics are put in forward, it doesn't help someone who's suffered from that kind of violence."

Fighting the bylaw

Residents are vowing to fight the halfway house. One of their key arguments is that the facility does not fit current zoning.

According to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CityofOttawa?src=hash">#CityofOttawa</a>, a park for kids 80m from convicted felons<br>is a good idea <a href="https://twitter.com/cmckenney">@cmckenney</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/JimWatsonOttawa">@JimWatsonOttawa</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ottawacity">@ottawacity</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ottnews?src=hash">#ottnews</a> —@Centretownfam

"If they say the project is going ahead, we take legal action against the city," says Lee.

The city considers a halfway house to be a supervised group home for up to 10 people, a use that's allowed under the municipal bylaw.

But because offenders living in a halfway house are still officially serving their sentences, residents argue that the facility is actually a correctional institution, which are not allowed in residential neighbourhoods.

The key descriptor for a correctional institution is that it provides "secure custody."

A halfway house like the House of Hope has 24-hour staff supervision, security cameras and curfews. Offenders have to sign out whenever they leave, and say exactly where they are going. These characteristics make it a corrections facility, argue the neighbours.

But the city doesn't see it that way. There are no bars on the windows, residents aren't under lock and key (most of the time), there are no significant restrictions on their freedom. All that makes it a supervised group home, say planning officials.

To fight the city's interpretation, the neighbours would have to take the city to court, likely a costly and lengthy undertaking.

No easy answer

In an era where consultations are common for everything from bus routes to playground structures, residents are startled by the lack of any process for meaningful input in this case.

But would any halfway house ever be allowed to open if community buy-in was required ahead of time? "I honestly don't know," said House of Hope's Jesseman.

Rebecca Jesseman, vice-president of House of Hope's board of directors, says the work at the halfway house helps make the community safer.

It's a clash of interests. Even the sexual assault victim, despite all she's been through, said she can see both sides of the argument.

Part of her, she said, fears that one more halfway house raises the risk level in her neighbourhood.

"And the other part of me says, they deserve a second chance, because if no one gives them a second chance, then maybe they'll re-offend again."