Bonnie O’Keefe says she never wanted it to come to this.

“I’m going to make everybody listen to me,” says O’Keefe holding back tears.

“My daughter needs a home and I can’t look after her and it’s a shame. All she wants to do is live her life and meet some friends and she can’t do that in a shelter.”

O’Keefe’s daughter, Jennifer Napier, 36, was born with William’s Syndrome, a severe developmental disability.

“Jennifer is 36 but she’s got a mind like a five year old,” O’Keefe says about her daughter who at times can be aggressive, “she can’t live on her own, she needs 24-hour care.”

“She’s my daughter and I love her very much but right now she’s in a crisis.”

O’Keefe says for a decade Jennifer lived in an Ontario-run group home in Barry’s Bay.  In July 2018, she was sent to hospital, a stay that lasted nearly four-months.  Because her hospital stay was so long, Jennifer lost her bed at the group home; O’Keefe says it was given to someone else. 

“That was a blow to Jenny.”

Without a place to go home to, O’Keefe says the hospital brought Jennifer to a shelter when she was released from hospital in October 2018.  She stayed for several months, before coming home for a few months.  O’Keefe says Jennifer’s homecoming was difficult, her needs too high for her mother to handle.  So for months Jennifer has been hopping from shelter to shelter, right now she’s staying at a shelter in Cornwall, ON.

“There are a lot of people off the street; they’ve been teasing her, calling her names,” O’Keefe says,

“I want Jennifer safe and that’s all she wants, she wants a bed to call home.”

On Monday morning O’Keefe began a hunger strike outside Renfrew Town Hall.  She’s committing to going hungry until her daughter gets a new home.

“My daughter is on the critical list, at the very top… and there’s nothing out there.”

O’Keefe isn’t alone in her fight.  A group called Renfrew County Voices for People with Developmental Disabilities (RCVPDD) has been demanding help from the Ontario government for years.

“My son is 38 now and he’s been on the list 20-years,” RCVPDD member Charlene Riopelle says, “it’s scary, it’s terrifying, I don’t want anything to happen to my son.”

Riopelle says her group has met with office staff of Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke MPP John Yakabuski, and feels his staff is listening, but wish things would move faster.  They even had a face-to-face meeting with now Premier Doug Ford on the campaign trail,

“We’ve begged people to come and join us with this fight and nobody seems to want to do anything,” Riopelle says.

Susan Somerville, along with her 87-year old mother, is the primary caregiver of her brother Andrew McQuade, 55. 

“More housing that’s what we need more housing,” Somerville tells CTV, “these are vulnerable people and they need to be treated better than they are.

CTV reached out to the Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services.  We had some questions:  How many beds are there in Ontario for people living with disabilities? How long are wait times for a bed? Is the government looking to add more beds?  Are there any other option other than shelters for people like Jennifer?

This was our response from Minister Todd Smith’s Press Secretary Christine Wood,

 “The province currently provides $2.57 billion in annual funding for developmental services - $1.62 billion of that funding is dedicated to residential services.  Adults with a developmental disability may also be eligible for funding through the Passport program once they are confirmed eligible for adult developmental services. This allows people to purchase key services and supports. In complex cases, a network of developmental and community service partners works with families to identify interim and long-term solutions within available resources. People with a developmental disability may also be eligible for the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) when they turn 18 years of age.

One of our government’s top priorities is to build an efficient system that provides supports for those who need it the most. We are taking a cross-government approach to provide wraparound services that address affordable housing, long-term care and mental health supports.”

O’Keefe plans to continue her camp-out and hunger strike until her Jennifer is given a safe place to live.

“I made a promise to my daughter to stay here as long as it takes,” O’Keefe says, “until I get a call saying they have a home for her, it can be after Christmas I don’t care, I’m staying here until a bed becomes available.”

O'Keefe has verified a GoFundMe page initiated by a friend to assist with bringing her daughter home.