Two tales about safe housing for the chemically sensitive

Posted on Nov 16, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

Rich or poor, if you have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, safe housing is precarious.

Let’s take a comparative look at two stories in the news last week involving safe housing for chemically sensitive people.

linda-in-windowOn Thursday, Canary Report contributor Linda Sepp (at left), a resident of Ontario, reported on an article in her local paper about her housing crisis. The reporter mangled the details of Linda’s situation, making her landlord look like a sympathetic figure and Linda a difficult and unreasonable tenant. In fact, Linda’s landlord has been anything but sympathetic and has not acted in good faith to understand and provide for her housing needs as someone disabled by severe Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Further complicating things for Linda is the failure of the social safety net in helping relocate her to a safer home, despite MCS being fully recognized as a disability by the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

But the reporter missed all these details, resulting in a story that belittled Linda’s urgent housing needs and that will probably not garnish her any help at all. This outcome, of course, was not what Linda hoped for when she agreed to do the interview. Since her pleas for help to social services have fallen on deaf ears, she thought an article might spark some support or perhaps a lead to a safer home. No such luck.

Meanwhile, The Globe and Mail reported that in another part of Ontario, former Microsoft Canada president Frank Clegg fights to keep a gas power plant from being built in his community of Oakville. Why? Because Clegg’s wife has chemical sensitivities and they have built her a safe home in the town of Oakville after having abandoned their $29 million mansion because the new building materials made her ill.

For Mr. Clegg, it’s partly personal. His wife has chemical sensitivities, which was one reason why the couple sold Ballymena, their 26,000-square-foot waterfront mansion [plus a 10,000-square-foot coach house], for a reported $29-million, in 2005. Its carpets and finishes aggravated her condition. Now, “we have a regular house,” he said. “It’s 7,000 square feet, which is a normal home.”

Now compare and contrast the Clegg’s predicament with Linda’s situation. Linda is barely scraping by with the pittance given her through Canada’s social services, and she has no resources to find and move into safe housing. No one is coming forward to assist her. The Cleggs, on the other hand, have all the resources in the world to build themselves safe housing and foot the legal fees to fight the government on the power plant issue. But still, even though rich with resources, the Clegg’s safe home is threatened, since natural gas and it’s emissions are one of the biggest enemies of the chemically sensitive. It appears being rich offers no guaranteed protection for the chemically sensitive.

However, despite the glaring economic disparity between Linda and the Cleggs, they share a common denominator: Safe housing needed by chemically injured people. Linda’s story, which appeared in Greater Toronto Area papers a day earlier than the Clegg’s, shows a more common side to the struggles of people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in finding safe housing. Linda cannot even find a safe home in which to live, despite looking for over four years, and could end up out on the street very soon.

Perhaps the Cleggs could get together with others less fortunate in their province and work together to develop a housing project that would ensure there are safe places to live and recover for people with MCS, no matter their income bracket. Now that’s an idea worth fighting for.

Linda left a comment on the story about the Cleggs:

Mr Clegg, I understand why you don’t want a gas power plant near your wife, but at least she has a safe home to live in.

Many people with chemical sensitivities become homeless because there are no safe places to live where we can avoid exposure to the toxic chemicals in everyday use.

We become so disabled we cannot work and need a safe home to recover in, but are then denied adequate benefits to cover even the most basic of our chemical free health care needs.

Perhaps you could do something that would help all the people with chemical sensitivities in Ontario, many of us forced to exist on $1000 a month, with no help from OHIP [Ontario Health Insurance Plan], by starting a safe chemical-free housing project for those of us who are dying because there is no place for us to live.

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8 Responses to “Two tales about safe housing for the chemically sensitive”

  1. Suzanne

    16. Nov, 2009

    Even the deep pockets of the Cleggs is not all that is needed, although it is a great idea to contact them. Isn’t there someone in Ontario doing a project now? I will try to find out who this is. I am currently not living in my own place due to my own housing issues and am disorganized to carry the ball on this.

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  2. linda

    16. Nov, 2009

    The Chemical -Free housing project in Ottawa Ontario has fallen through (hopefully just for the time being), but was not accessible for people with severe MCS/ES due to the need to share hallways and elevators instead of having some units with exterior private entrances, as well as the no pets rule. Many of us with severe MCS have cats (or other pets) as the only safe living beings to keep us company.

    The website for that project is here (with a warning that it is difficult to view if you have any vision difficulties as it is white type on black background): http://www.chemicalfreehousing.ca/

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  3. Lloyd

    16. Nov, 2009

    This MCS is such a tragedy…

    I’m glad that I think I’m on way out of it!

    Thanks to a bit of experimentation and some research it seems, at least in my case, that the ultimate cause of it for me was leaky gut (which cause nutrient deficiency), which might be (the nutrient deficiency) a common cause of MCS (although MCS being poorly understood, who knows?).
    So following this leaky gut friendly diet + taking Martin Pall tablet (MCS has a mind of its own, Martin Pall tablet help stop the positive feedback / self perpetuation) I think I’m getting out of it… At the very least I sure do feel much better and improve slowly!

    Reply to this comment

  4. Susan

    17. Nov, 2009

    For those of us with leaky gut and MCS, would you please share the diet and the exact Pall tablet (did you mean tablets) taken?

    Reply to this comment

  5. Susie Collins

    17. Nov, 2009

    Aloha Lloyd, I’m happy to hear that you are finding some relief from your MCS. I’m a bit confused about what you mean by the Pall “tablet.” Martin Pall recommends a protocol that includes many different supplements. Also, there is nothing in his work that cites leaky gut as a cause of MCS, nor have I heard that anywhere in the MCS literature (meaning the peer-reviewed studies on MCS), although digestive problems are often found in people who have MCS. Pall is very clear in his research that MCS is toxicological, caused by toxic chemical exposure, and he has identified six genes in determining susceptibility to MCS. A summary of Martin Pall’s work is here http://www.thecanaryreport.org/2009/10/18/published-research-shows-multiple-chemical-sensitivity/

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  6. Bobby

    17. Nov, 2009

    I’m not familiar with the Martin Pall stuff but it sounds similar to Sherry Roger’s book “No more heartburn”. It deals with heartburn in the beginning but then goes on to address leaky gut, Candida, etc. I’ve been using it as my “Holy Grail to EI” for the last couple of years. I was at Dr. Rea’s clinic in 96 with breast cancer again and going through all his testing. I met a couple of her patients and saw one of her books (Wellness against all odds). Between the two books, using her detox methods and finding tests and supplements, I’m pretty much maintaining at this point. Have been going out to stores without a mask which is a major breakthrough for me. (Of course with the flu around I really should be wearing it now, of all times!!) I like her approach because if you cannot afford testing she gives alternatives. She doesn’t point to any ONE thing (I call these people one theory wonders!) and acknowledges every body is different and reacts differently to everything. She gives you the names of supplements she’s used with success in her MCS patients along with alternatives. This book is a great place to start if anyone is interested. I purchased it on Amazon FYI.

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  7. Kevin Royce / ECO Building Resource

    09. Dec, 2009

    Not wanting to offend anyone by marketing our business but wanting to inform suffers of MCS we are here to assist if we can.
    I opened ECO Building Resource 2-1/2 years ago to address the Green building movement in Ontario only to learn we are not as Green as we claim to be. Through this I have met numerous people with all kinds of sensitivities. These wonderful people have come to us in search of products to use in and around their homes that will reduce the impact on their quality of life. If we can assist you or someone you know in a search for less toxic build products please contact us at 905-841-3535 or info@eco-building.ca Kevin

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  8. linda

    09. Dec, 2009

    Hi Kevin, I’m glad you are learning that just because someone says something is green, doesn’t mean it is safe, because at least a couple of products advertised on your site would make a canary keel over.
    Life cycle assessment and complete honesty about materials used is a canary requirement. If you are willing to help us find safe materials, not just less toxic ones, then you are at the leading edge of a growing industry.

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