Visions Journal

Shining a light on hidden homelessness in seniors

Jay Howey

Reprinted from the Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The unseen reality of hidden homelessness issue of Visions Journal, 2024, 20 (2), pp. 29-30

Safe and affordable housing is a human right. Yet seniors in the Nanaimo area are living in trailers, surviving in cars, couch surfing, asking family for a room, camping in tents, enduring bug-infested motels and living rough.  

Some seniors are facing homelessness for the first time at the age of 65 because of renovictions, impossibly high rents and fixed incomes. Some, like AR,² are evicted after 10 years of good tenancy because the new owner wants the suite. AR is in crisis because rents have doubled, availability is half of what it was and no one seems to want to rent or bunk with a senior. He is seriously thinking he will have to live in his car.  

On average, a one-bedroom apartment costs $1,500 a month in Nanaimo. In comparison, the monthly income for seniors who receive federal old age security, the federal guaranteed income supplement, and the BC Senior’s Supplement is $1,890.56. That means a senior in Nanaimo dependent on government benefits spends 79% of their income on housing.³ There are rental subsidies available through the Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters (SAFER) program. These provide, on average $300 a month for a single renter with no spouse, but they cannot be combined with any other rental subsidies. 

Temporary shelters can accommodate unhoused seniors, but there are no shelters in Nanaimo dedicated to seniors only. Older adults are often frightened at the abrupt change to their circumstances, and staying on a cot in the same room with strangers is not how they saw their retirement. Shelter staff work heroically, but conditions can be challenging, and operating hours mean seniors with mobility issues are outside all day.  

After a renoviction (evicting a tenant to renovate a rental), AA had to put her belongings in storage and find refuge in a shelter. While grateful she has a place to sleep, eat and wash, she understands emergency shelters are temporary.  

Other barriers when elders search for housing include limited experience with computers and the cost of cell phones. Searching the internet is not a daily obsession for many seniors, and many don’t trust Facebook because of too many fake profiles. Add a pet and increased blameless evictions, as well as skyrocketing rental prices—it’s no wonder seniors are struggling to find housing.  

How have we come to this? Rents in Nanaimo are just too much for seniors on fixed incomes struggling to manage expenses. If residents are lucky enough to find housing, they have no money left over to pay for prescriptions or food. 

SHINE  

Given all the barriers facing unhoused seniors, the Senior Housing Information Navigation Ease (SHINE) program at the Nanaimo Family Life Association has been created to provide valuable services for elder citizens. SHINE’s housing navigators can support seniors in a number of ways. Navigators: 

• share information on housing options for seniors ages 55+ 
• help seniors navigate forms, rules and registration for BC Housing Registry and SAFER 
• assist with online applications for other housing providers, such as Ballenas Housing Society, as well as with market housing  
• help with pension applications  
• advocate for seniors in conflict with their landlord or housing providers 
• advise on tenancy rights and the Residential Tenancy Act and guide seniors through residential tenancy hearings, for example, in cases where a senior is evicted and needs clarity on their legal options 

SHINE also connects older adults to community support teams for health and social well-being. At Nanaimo Family Life Association, our Community Connector, named Amber, helps to develop a personalized wellness plan for seniors to support a healthy aging journey. Community connectors, who also work elsewhere in BC,⁴ can direct elders to physical activity and exercise programs, plus social activities and programs, and arrange for family and caregiver supports. 

Shining the way forward 

We all grow old and stop working. Many of us then live on fixed incomes. Clearly, we need to think about housing for seniors, including rent geared to income. Rent geared to income is the single most important shift we can make in our housing model when it comes to those who are unhoused or precariously housed (meaning, at risk of losing housing due to a single event, like an expense or crisis). 

That’s according to a report published in 2023 called Aging in Uncertainty.⁵ Prepared by the United Way British Columbia, the report includes recommendations and strategies that will address many of the concerns voiced in this article. It reveals subsidized housing with rent geared to income (where renters pay 30% of their income for housing) is an effective way to guarantee affordable housing for low-income seniors. Nanaimo Family Life Association supports this strategy wholeheartedly as a major factor in providing safe, adequate housing for our community’s older adults. 

Most important, however, is to talk to our elders and ask them what they need. Because some seniors face unique issues, like cognitive limitations, we need creative solutions. For example, the Dutch have tested a program where university students get free rent in exchange for spending 30 hours per month with seniors.⁶  

From my discussions with seniors, they say all they want is a bed, a bathroom and the ability to cook—which is not asking for much at all after a lifetime of working. BC needs more housing, especially more subsidized housing, and rent geared to income for seniors, most of whom are just looking for a safe, stable and affordable place to live out their retirement.