This is the fourth instalment of a Global News collection known as ‘On The Brink,’ which profiles people who find themselves combating the rising value of dwelling. In this story, a senior dwelling in a transformed laundry room talks concerning the challenges of looking for a greater place to dwell.
Liz Myers is aware of what it’s prefer to be on the brink.
Myers lives in a bachelor basement unit within the Halifax space. Her small condominium – a transformed laundry room – has one window, a kitchenette, a futon and a closet with a bathroom.
The senior, who shares the tiny unit along with her 16-year-old cat, mentioned the area feels “claustrophobic.”
“It’s affecting my moods a lot, making me more anxious,” she mentioned, including that she additionally has issues about air high quality. “It’s affecting my health.”
As a small girl with disabilities, she can be involved for her security attributable to drug use and violence in her neighourhood.
Myers needs to maneuver to a safer area, however she applies to models each “morning and night,” however has had no luck discovering something inside her $1,300/month price range.
She mentioned she feels “overlooked” as a retiree on earnings help.
“They’ll say in their ads (that) they want someone who’s employed professionally, employed as a student, and I feel like I’m not important to them because I’m a retired senior,” she mentioned. “They want a certain kind of person.”
Liz Myers, who lives in a transformed laundry room, has been trying to find a greater place to dwell with no luck.
Ella Macdonald/Global News
She mentioned she additionally has problem discovering an area as a result of she has a cat.
Landlords can afford to be picky in a market with a one-per-cent emptiness fee, however Myers says it feels discriminatory.
Living in a extra rural space isn’t an possibility, she mentioned, as a result of she doesn’t have a automobile and people areas are likely to lack public transportation.
Myers has been on the waitlist for an assisted dwelling facility for 2 years, and on the waitlist for public housing for greater than a 12 months.
“You can’t get in. I’ve begged them,” she mentioned.
Living in her tiny condominium, with no family and friends close by, has made her really feel lonely.
“I feel isolated very much, and scared,” she mentioned. “I need to find something else.”
‘We should have been preparing more’
Rev. Dianne Parker, a board member with the Halifax chapter of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, mentioned the price of dwelling is a large concern for seniors all throughout the province.
“There are many, many, many people from the tip of Cape Breton to the tip of Yarmouth who are having difficulties,” she mentioned.
Many seniors are combating emotions of loneliness and isolation, mentioned Parker, and people emotions are compounded when they’re additionally coping with the stress of holding a roof over their heads and meals on their tables.
In phrases of housing, “there just isn’t enough.” Parker mentioned a scarcity of preparation over time has led to the housing scarcity many areas are actually seeing.
“Thirty years ago, at least, we should have been preparing more – for housing, for home care, for all the infrastructure and things that are necessary,” she mentioned. “That’s hindsight now, isn’t it? And so we need to look at the now.”
Rev. Dianne Parker says a scarcity of preparation over the previous couple of a long time has led to the housing disaster we’re seeing now.
Megan King/Global News
Many seniors are afraid to talk publicly about the price of dwelling and housing disaster as a result of they might be combating a “sense of failure and a sense of shame” for not with the ability to present for themselves of their older years.
“The expectation was that we are the generation that would be able to retire and enjoy retirement,” she mentioned. “And it’s not happening for so, so many.”
Parker mentioned it’s necessary for individuals of all ages to return collectively and work on options. There are many issues youthful individuals can study from older individuals, and vice-versa.
While nursing properties and comparable complexes are necessary to assist seniors who require help, she additionally needs to see extra “intergenerational housing” so individuals of all ages can profit from one another’s information and experiences.
“Where you get the young folk, you get children, you get the older generation, the aging population to share the wisdom, to share the joys, to have common areas, common places to gather outdoors and inside,” she mentioned. “That is so life-giving for all of them.”

Parker mentioned that though instances are difficult proper now, it’s necessary to keep up hope and acknowledge the organizations and people who find themselves working for change.
“There has to be some light in all of this,” she mentioned. “The darkness has to be weighed with the light, because without hope, the darkness will get darker.”
As for Myers, she’s hoping for some mild in her state of affairs – and shortly.
“I’ve tried, and I pray a lot.”
— with information from Ella Macdonald
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
On the Brink: Retiree living in converted laundry room feels ‘overlooked’ amid housing crisis