Tracey Nicholson cried tears of joy when her 11-year wait for social housing in Kington, Ont., finally ended with an apartment at 381 Bagot St.
But the 57-year-old said conditions inside the building eventually shattered her mental health and made her so scared she was driven to sleep in a Walmart parking lot in the middle of winter. She spent three freezing nights in her car before forcing herself to return to her apartment.
Nicholson still refuses to sleep in her bedroom because it’s the smallest space in her unit, opting instead for the couch because there’s more room to escape should someone break in.
“When it gets dark, my fear level goes up to like an eight or a nine,” she said. “I am terrified.”
Nicholson describes being woken by the sound of someone screaming threats in the hallway as a regular occurrence, and said carrying naloxone to reverse overdoses has become part of her everyday life.
A can of spray meant to scare off attacking coyotes is clipped to her keys. Nicholson said every time she goes out the door, her finger is on the trigger.
Three and a half years after moving in, those tears of relief have turned to frustration and fear.
“I call it Trauma Tower, and my tongue is nowhere near my cheek when I say that,” Nicholson said.
Police have been called to a social housing building on Kingston’s Bagot Street 366 times as of November, more than any other residential address in the city.
Don’t go ‘wandering’ hallways at night: CEO
With 104 units, the orange brick highrise is the largest residence run by the Kingston & Frontenac Housing Corporation (KFHC). It’s also a hotbed for emergency services, racking up more calls to police this year than any other address in the city, by a wide margin.
CEO Mary Lynn Cousins Brame acknowledged “multiple issues” at the building, and said KFHC is working to improve security there. The corporation plans to install an automated locking system similar to hotel keycards at its properties in January, starting with 381 Bagot St..
“We hear you,” she said, addressing tenants. “We know what you’re going through. We’re going through it each day with you.”
However, Cousins Brame said residents have a responsibility to look after their own safety, too.
“When they’re in their unit, they need to ensure that their door is locked and they’re not out wandering late at night in the hallways,” she advised.
News articles show a long history of complaints and police activity at the building, including reports of drug use, prostitution and a deceased fetus found in a stairwell.
This past August, officers raided a unit and seized fentanyl and crystal meth, along with a loaded .40-calibre handgun and a stack of cash.
Three people, a 45-year-old from Kingston and two youths from the GTA, face trafficking charges.
Hundreds of calls to police
Police statistics show that as of the end of November, 381 Bagot St. was the address listed on 366 calls for service, the most of any residence in the city this year and over two and a half times more than the second highest-ranking address.
When it comes to “general occurrences” — a term police use for incidents that result in a formal report — there have been 118 so far in 2025.
That’s nearly double the second-place address, Princess Towers, despite it having twice as many apartments.
There’s also been a spike in emergency responses by Kingston Fire and Rescue at the Bagot Street building, with 68 so far this year, compared to 39 and 37 in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
Staff not allowed to visit building alone
Cousins Brame said the past five years have seen a “drastic change” in KFHC’s clientele and the type of visitors they bring.
“It’s not only the drug trafficking, human trafficking, mental health challenges,” she said. “It’s people coming into the building and the homeless … the criminal activity that is not caused by our tenants.”
Violent incidents, particularly at 381 Bagot St., have led to a protocol barring staff from entering the building alone.
KFHC has evicted several people who were causing damage and safety concerns, according to Cousins Brame, and the corporation is also in the midst of a pilot project to select new tenants who will create a “sense of community.”
She said there’s an assumption that the term social housing means the corporation provides addiction and mental health supports, but as a landlord its purpose is to provide affordable rent and to focus on “bricks and mortar” issues.
“A feeling of safety can come from within,” she said, again stressing the importance of tenants finding their own tools to deal with the problems at 381 Bagot St.
Feces and blood stains
King’s Town Coun. Greg Ridge said he respects that KFHC’s role as a landlord can be limiting, but bristled at the advice that residents should avoid the hallways at night to ensure their safety.
While canvassing the apartment building during the last municipal election campaign, he was told to stay out of the stairwells. That only made him more curious to see what was going on.
The councillor said he opened the door to the stairs and found a woman injecting drugs into her arm.
“I have seen blood stains. I’ve seen … presumably human feces in the hallways,” he said of follow-up visits after complaints from residents. “It’s tragic.”
Life at 381 Bagot St. wasn’t always this way.
Ridge’s grandmother lived there in the 1990s and he remembers a quieter, cleaner building that was home to tenants who weren’t afraid of their neighbours.
He said security improvements will help, but what’s really needed is more mental health and addictions support from the province, along with funding to address the severe shortage of housing for those with mental or physical disabilities in Kingston.
“Many of the people that live in these units are trapped because they’re not able to transfer out of the building,” Ridge said. “That is heartbreaking.”
Nicholson counts herself among that group. She no longer sees her apartment as a home, but rather a “storage unit where I sleep.” She recalls flicking on the light in the laundry room to find people lying on the floor and not knowing if they’re sleeping, overdosing or dead.
She said when she has raised concerns with KFHC, staff have been defensive rather than focused on a resolution.
Nicholson doesn’t believe the corporation’s plan to update the locking system will change anything. She said the danger is already inside.
“This entire building is unsafe because there are people in the building that are unsafe,” she said.
