Barbara Dennis is a resident of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
But while she used to live at the Pennsylvania Hotel on Carrall Street for the past 14 years, she now lives on the street in a tent.
Dennis told Global News everything was fine until she turned 65 and had to switch from having her rent come out of provincial social assistance to getting it from federal pension cheques.
However, that involved new paperwork. Dennis is a survivor of residential school and cannot read or write, so she needed help to fill out any new papers.
“I got these all these letters stating that I had to apply for old age,” she said. “Nobody would help me.”
When she was able to finally obtain some help from one of the staff members, she then had to get her rent from her bank and pay it herself, whereas her rent had previously been debited from her account directly.
Dennis admits she didn’t pay her rent for about six months because she didn’t know what was going on and no one would give her any answers.
When she was able to take money out of her account and pay her rent in cash, she said sometimes she got a receipt and sometimes she didn’t, leading to a lack of official paperwork.
Dennis said she was finally evicted and all her belongings were thrown out on the street, including her clothes and a photo of her uncle who served in the war.
She’s been living on the streets for two weeks.
“I’ve been robbed. Beat up, almost raped. And my cat got stolen last night that I had for 14 years. She’s sick, she needs the medication,” Dennis said.
“I got nothing, this is it.”
Chief executive officer of the Portland Hotel Society, Micheal Vonn, told Global News she cannot comment on specific cases but said when social assistance eligibility ends at age 65, there must be a transition to a federal program (CPP, OAP).
She said it is possible to have rent directly paid through social assistance but not through a federal program.
“In advance of the transition, supportive housing providers try to identify residents who will be impacted and to work through a plan for rent payment to keep their housing secure,” she said.
“Our own approach is to work extensively to ensure that all available means are used to safeguard a resident’s housing through the transition and beyond, this can include providing direct support in the application process.”
Vonn added that it is “rare” for transitioning residents who are no longer having rent paid directly to refuse to pay any rent.
But Dennis said she never received any official help.
“I got no money. I got nothing. I’m stuck here. Who’s going to help me?” Dennis said.
B.C.’s Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction told Global News while most recipients of income assistance and disability assistance transition to Canada’s public pension programs when they turn 65, low-income seniors who are not eligible to receive the full amount from Canada’s public pension programs may receive a top-up from income or disability assistance to the maximum assistance rate for their family unit.
The ministry said this is called the Senior’s Supplement and is based on how much Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) allowance they receive.
The maximum rate for a single person is $99.30 per month, and the rate for a couple is $220.50 per month.
While Dennis admits she’s not blameless in what happened, the long story has landed her on the streets of the Downtown Eastside.
She is suffering from cancer and she has nowhere to live.
“Guess I’ll just sit out and die like the rest of them,” she said.
“I don’t get proper food. I don’t get none of that. I love my tea. I can’t get that. I love to read my Bible and I can’t even do that because somebody stole my Bible. All I want is somebody to help me, to show me the way, to talk for me. I can’t do that. I need help. I need help.
“I want off this street. I don’t want to die in this street.”