Staff on the frontlines at Kerby Centre in downtown Calgary can only do so much.
And in recent months it’s been near impossible for the not-for-profit which supports seniors to line people up with affordable or subsidized housing. It’s heartbreaking and it seems to be getting worse.
This is the fifth in a 660 NewsRadio five-part series, ‘Shelter for Seniors Facing Homelessness; Stories from Calgary,’ where reporter Nadia Moharib explores how the cost-of-living crisis is forcing more elderly Calgarians to live on the cusp of homelessness.
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Larry Mathieson, Unison at Kerby Centre’s president and CEO, keeps hearing help is on the way to finally address the issue. And he sure hopes so.
On a regular basis staff see elderly people with everything they own packed in a suitcase or two walk away not knowing where they will spend the night. Or the next.
“That’s the sad piece. I think our staff deal with that on a fairly daily basis where you are essentially trying to case manage. ‘OK, do you have a relative, can you partner with a potential roommate and try to create opportunities?’ We are also working with private landlords or people who have room to rent. But again it takes a lot of creativity and it’s a much bigger problem than one organization, for sure.”
In the first six months of 2024, the Kerby Centre (which partners with organizations which provide housing) saw more than 600 people come to them for help. Of those, less than two per cent were placed in housing. The rest were sent looking for a Plan B, many on waiting lists that are more than a year long.
Some end up among those who don’t find anything in the short-term.
“It’s fairly disheartening for us, literally, we work in a neighbourhood where people are camping in vehicles in our parking lot and other parking lots … seniors and young families as well. I think this is the worst I’ve seen. I think for the last two years it’s been getting progressively worse.”
A University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy report released last fall estimates 40,000 Calgary households were on the brink of homelessness in 2016.
The authors, echoing what many lobbying for change assert, that some of the focus needs to shift to keeping those in homes there while also addressing those who are already without one.
If you have any feedback on this series please email nadia.moharib@rci.rogers.com.