Keith Light, 77, says he spent New Year’s Eve trying to get the engine of his recreational vehicle — outside a Walmart in East Vancouver — running to stay warm, while trying to imagine better times ahead.
“I just laid here and visualized B.C. Housing calling me and saying: ‘We have a place for you,’” said the former construction worker.
Light has been on B.C. Housing’s waiting list for subsidized housing for two years, and every time he contacts the agency, staff ask him to check back in another six months.
He is among a large population of elderly people living in poverty or are on its brink in B.C., where perennially high housing costs exacerbate countrywide cost-of-living woes.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Keith Light, 77, says he spent New Year’s Eve trying to get the engine of his recreational vehicle — outside a Walmart in East Vancouver — running to stay warm, while trying to imagine better times ahead.
He is among a large population of elderly people living in poverty or are on its brink in B.C., where perennially high housing costs exacerbate countrywide cost-of-living woes.
After selling it, relocating to Metro Vancouver and paying off debts, Light didn’t have much left, so he bought the RV for $19,000 while living on a monthly pension of $1,900.
seniors say rising costs of living coupled with stagnant government retirement incomes are pushing more elders into poverty and homelessness.
Carole Fawcett, a 75-year-old retired counsellor and freelance writer from Vernon, B.C., says it is “bizarre” she gets less than someone working 40 hours a week on minimum wage.
Laura Kadowaki, program and operations co-ordinator with United Way B.C., said the study was inspired by frontline service providers who described seniors in dire situations.
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