Senior struggles to find affordable housing in Vancouver

Stew Brinton has three months to move out from the place he has called home for over a decade.

The 71-year-old from Vancouver was handed an eviction notice last week.

"The owneris renovating in order to jack up the rent. The family above me and I are being thrown out on the market," he said.

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Brinton says he has looked at every option available, includingbasement suites andshared accommodation. He is happy withanything that is available for $700 a month along the 135 bus route.

He is hopeful to find a place by January or otherwise he fears he will be homeless.

Too common

It is a story too common among seniors in the city, saysKara-Leigh Bloch, executive director of Seniors Services Society a non-profit agency that provides local and provincial programs and services to help seniors live as independently as possible.

"We are working with 1,500 clients a year that are labeled as homeless, so they are already on the street or couch surfing or are at risk of being homeless with eviction notices in 30 days," she said.

Bloch says they turn away the same number of people because their hands are tied.

"At the end of the day, we have to prioritize clients based on need. So if someone is homeless or at risk someone like Stewdoesn't beep red light as being the most priority because he has three months," she said.

Government's role

Bloch says various levels of government need to step in to help seniors.

"It's absolutely huge. The numbers of seniors are growing and the cost of living is rapidly picking up.

"Seniors are just falling through the cracks," she said.

Bloch is critical of thefederal government's Housing First program itprovides financial support to address homelessness.

"But in reality it doesn't help seniors. The senior has to be homeless for a 180 days before money in that program [is received]," said Bloch.

The federal government saysit has committed to investing$1.9 billion over 8 yearsthrough it's Investment in Affordable Housing program. But provinces and territories receive the money and are thenin charge of program design and delivery.

A full list of affordable housing programs in B.C. is available on the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation's website.

What's your story?

This story is part of a specialCBC Vancouver News series,What's Your Story?The series focuses onissues pitched by our audience about what matters to them.

If you have a story to pitch about an issue in your community, send it tomylocalstory@cbc.ca

To hear the full interview listen to the audio labelled Vancouver senior struggles to find an affordable rental apartmentwiththe CBC's Rick Cluff onThe Early Edition.