Testimonials

Pensions Clawed Back

This story is about two of our more elderly members. It's a story I have heard many times.

Martha and John (their names have been changed to keep their identities confidential) have been married for many years, but when they moved into subsidized housing, they had to get divorced. This all took place a couple of years ago. They ended up divorced, because of the structure of the government's pension plan. They are both Low Income Seniors.

They found that as a married couple the government's pension plan penalized them. The federal government reduces its GIS payment by about $300 each per month for married Seniors, and the Alberta government reduces its seniors benefit by about $180 each per month. Together they would lose about a $1,000 a month. That is a about 20% of their combined incomes, imagine if the government took away another 20 % of your families income because you got married or lived with someone. What changes would you have to make?

So I am left wondering what happens to Martha and John's happiness. It is disgusting when governments force people to divorce and live apart during their Golden Years.

How can you say we are a wealthy country and do this to Seniors? There MUST be another way.

A Tale of George

George is a very dear man. He and I talked philosophies for hours. Sometimes laughing, sometimes serious enough to change the world. We lived in the same subsidized apartment. That was until a much younger and larger man intimidated and bullied George. Being a former policeman in South America, George didn’t take kindly to that and when he defended himself, he was the one who was evicted – in October – just before the snow.

George is 81-years-old and probably weighs 100 pounds.

So, George was out on the street. Confusingly, he was able to finance a van and decided to live in it. He had done it when he was younger! Now it was more difficult, and after appealing to agencies and churches, he got into a shelter. The shelter housed 40-50 men in one area with two toilets and three showers. These men were becoming sober, and George said the arguments and tempers were rampant.

Months later, David and I thought George was in a safe apartment, until we wanted to visit. Then he told us the truth. We were immediately dedicated to help George find a proper home. He received two phone calls and we all went to Grace Manor for an interview.

The building manager realized George’s plight and offered him a beautiful bachelor suite right away. Naturally, George needed a damage deposit and rent upfront. A church blessed him with a monetary gift. After signing the lease papers George smiled and blessed his new home.

We then applied to the Provincial government for a bed for George. In his text, George writes "I assembled (the bed) today (May 22, 2024) and will be my first night to sleep in a new comfortable bed since I came to Canada 35 years ago. God bless you."

Living in Low-Income Housing

I am grateful that I have an apartment, but it is not much better than living in a box on a back street.

It all started when I had a serious accident, I was in the hospital, and I would never be able to work again. The company I was co-owners in was pilfered by my co-owner taking all the money for himself, leaving me broke and nowhere to live. I tried for 6 weeks to contact the manager of this building as I new they had rooms, lots of them, but the manger never even returned a call.

I took a taxi to the building and finally rented a room. It was a very small bachelor suite with the agreement that I would get the first one bedroom as I needed room to move my walker.

The room was in very bad disrepair, no bathroom door (took over a year to get a door.) No shower head or hose, I had to buy one. A heating system that heated the room to over 40 degrees even when it was 30 below outside, their repair was to shut off the hot water heat and I have not had heat for 4 years now. I have heard of other people who don’t have heat in other buildings. I have painted and repaired many things at my expense including treating for bed bugs.

As for the one bedroom, I am still here after many promises. I paid for a letter from the doctor ($150) or and paid a transfer fee of $150 but the one bedrooms go to their friends.

When asking for things to be fixed they answered, “you’re in subsidized housing, be happy, you get what you get or move if you don’t like it here.”

Now I am sure that you will say that this can’t happen today, but I have heard many similar stories, such as no heat etc.

In trying to keep this short, I won’t go into more details which are significant.

I am a cripple who has difficulties walking and easily bullied by other tenants. I have been assaulted 12 times by the same guy. I have reported him to the police and management many times, with no action taken. Recently the manager told me to be careful as one of the tenants wants to kill me, this man was just arrested by 12 officers after threatening tenants with a knife and hammer, but they take him away but 4 days later he is back in the building threatening to kill me. I don’t even know this guy. I have lived in terror for 5 years.

If you have a senior relative in Low-Income Housing…it's been a dangerous place for me and many others.