Many seniors battle the cost-of-living crisis leaving them at constant risk of being unable to keep a roof over their head. Hundreds who reach out for help find nothing available in their price range and discouraging wait lists for more affordable options. We talk to a woman who ended up homeless for her first time — as a senior.
Calgary senior shares her ordeal of surviving a year without a home After the end of a long-term relationship, Faye found herself living in her truck. When it broke down and was towed, she pitched a tent. As autumn turned to winter, the 70-year-old found shelter where she could.
In a tent, on the floor of boarded up houses between luxury infills and sometimes under a tarp — all while trying to find an affordable home. “When you are homeless each day is a struggle, a real struggle,” she says. With Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security payments, Faye still couldn’t afford anything.
And shelters felt degrading. “It’s like a cattle line. They are pushing you through line-ups for food and lineups for showers and lineups to get medication.
And you sleep on the floor on mats,” she explains. ”They search you, they lock your stuff up. If you want to degrade yourself, to be a number there it is.
I found it very depressing and embarrassing.. I’ve never been this low in society.
The bottom rung, scum.” Living outdoors wasn’t much better but for different reasons. There’s no running water, it’s terrifyingly cold in winter and there .