Where trouble roams the halls

Bullet holes, drug-dealer takeovers, mould and struggling tenants. What it's like living in one of Toronto's most beleaguered public housing sites

- VICTORIA GIBSON AND CALVI LEON

When strangers pound at the door of her downtown Toronto apartment, Janice Bellmore has learned to keep calm, make sure her lock is secured, and turn up the TV to drown out the noise. Calling security, in the complex she's lived in for two decades, often feels futile.

It's not unusual for unfamiliar faces to roam her building a weathered concrete and brick apartment, with rusting metal railings looking over a wide courtyard connecting it to hundreds of other homes. In many cases, the people who enter this sprawling complex are desperate to find potent street drugs, tenants say. And it's a reliable place to look, as vulnerable tenants having their units taken over by dealers is a chronic problem.

It's why many tenants say their buzzers sound at all hours of the night, as those in the grips of addiction try to get someone anyone to unlock the door in the renovated lobby off Sherbourne Street. One of Bellmore's neighbours had her buzzer disabled simply to get a full night's sleep.

For decades, these kinds of scenes have played out inside the Dan Harrison Community Complex - a sprawling community of desperately needed subsidized homes in an increasingly expensive city, and a public asset spanning more than 240,000 square feet off Sherbourne Street north of Dundas Street East.

Its 15 heritage houses and two midrise apartment blocks are considered among the most challenging and high-needs housing complexes in Toronto today.

A disproportionately high showing of tenants here are fighting daily battles with their mental health, addiction and social isolation. Many are wrangling with the aftermath of homelessness and the traumatic events that come with it. Others are simply facing the everyday trials of acute poverty, the subsidized units a lifeline in an increasingly expensive market.