Latest news with #accessiblehousing
CBC
5 days ago
- General
- CBC
Accessible housing hard to find for Grande Prairie residents displaced by apartment fire
Leslie Dunagan and her husband, Kevin Guerette, are struggling to find a new home in Grande Prairie, Alta. They are among dozens of people displaced from Margaret Edgson Manor, which caught fire over a month ago. The 70-unit apartment building, which provided affordable housing and 16 wheelchair-accessible units, is now uninhabitable. Many affected residents are staying in hotels or college dormitories while they look for new rentals. Some, including Dunagan and Guerette, have to consider their mobility issues and complex health needs as they search. Dunagan has multiple sclerosis and uses a walker; Guerette is her full-time caretaker. But finding any vacancy is the bigger issue, they said. "You can phone any rental agency in Grand Prairie right now, and they have zero vacancies. Most of them do not even have waitlists anymore because it's that bad," said Dunagan, who lived in the manor with her husband for five years. "It's not even trying to find something accessible, which I need. There are just no vacancies, period." Dunagan and Guerette have applied for more than 15 rentals, but have had no luck so far, they said. The couple is living in a hotel for now. Their insurance company will cover costs for nine months. The fire has highlighted the ongoing challenge of ensuring accessible housing is available when needed, especially in emergencies, a City of Grande Prairie spokesperson told CBC News in an emailed statement. The city doesn't have many vacant, fully accessible units on standby, the spokesperson said. So when an emergency displaces a lot of residents, it further strains an already stretched system. Grande Prairie, a city about 390 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, had a residential vacancy rate of 1.5 per cent in 2023, provincial data shows. The dataset only tracks units in non-subsidized buildings. WATCH | Fire engulfs Grande Prairie apartment building: Dozens displaced after fire engulfs Grande Prairie apartment building 1 month ago The city approved to help cover hotel accommodations for manor residents as they waited for insurance or provincial emergency benefits to begin, the spokesperson said. Several residents were successfully placed in a city-owned housing facility, the spokesperson said. But the municipality is not directly managing individual placements. Instead, it's supporting local organizations that are working with impacted residents. The provincial Assisted Living and Social Services Ministry is working with the Grande Spirit Foundation — which manages the manor — and Grande Prairie Residential Society to help residents, according to Amber Edgerton, press secretary for Assisted Living and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon. The ministry is sending rental and emergency financial assistance to those affected, and has contacted affordable housing and seniors' lodges in the Grande Prairie area to help people find suitable housing, Edgerton said in a statement. Sixty-seven of the manor's units were occupied when the fire ignited on June 9, said Tracy Bussiere, the Grande Spirit Foundation's director of human resources, in an email. She wouldn't specify how many people lived in the building, but said 82 per cent of residents have been rehoused to a lodge, apartment or rent-subsidized unit. The status of 13 per cent of residents is unknown, while five per cent have refused options, she said. Dunagan and Guerette haven't heard much from support organizations, they said. The foundation has offered them spaces in different communities, including at a seniors' lodge about 70 kilometres north in Spirit River, Alta., but moving away is a last resort. "Grande Prairie has become a home for me. My doctors are here … My friends are here," Dunagan said. She hasn't considered living elsewhere since the couple moved to Grande Prairie from Vancouver Island in 2006, Dunagan said. She is only doing so now "because there's nothing here." "How are we supposed to deal with this? How are we supposed to find a new home when there are none?" Dunagan said. Julia Wright, another displaced resident who lived in the manor for seven years, admits that she and her family are lucky to be settling into a new apartment. Wright, who has degenerative disc disease and arthritis, is recovering from surgery. But she also cares for her adult daughter, who is disabled and has multiple complex health conditions. When she went to a local property management company, it happened to have a new listing, she said. "It had all of the ticks for us to be able to live there," Wright said, noting that the location was good, despite being half the size of her first-floor manor unit. "I immediately took it," she said. "There were no ifs, ands or buts about it, because there's nothing in this town." They're living on a fixed income, though, Wright said, and their new rent costs $1,650 per month — more than double the $800 they paid monthly at the manor. "That's going to make a big difference," she said. Starting over In addition to losing their homes, many of the manor's residents escaped the fire with few belongings. Wright, for one, left medications, Kitchen-Aid mixers and the ashes of her daughter's father, she said. "There were two days, I called it my pity party; I broke down," Wright said. "They're just some things that you can't replace, but we'll survive. [We'll] have to do without," she said. Dunagan and Guerette, meanwhile, are starting over without Dunagan's custom wheelchair and thousands of dollars of medication, as well as keepsakes of their son, who died 13 years ago. "We've lost all the pictures of him," Dunagan said. "We had a memory quilt made out of his clothes; we've lost that." "It's just an overwhelming sense of loss," she said.
BBC News
27-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Boston boy's long wait for disabled bathroom finally over
A mother who waited more than three years for her council house to be adapted for her disabled son says she is delighted with the 27, from Boston, Lincolnshire, had to carry 12-year-old Robbie up the narrow stairs of her home to the bathroom every time he needed a wash. The family moved into the house in 2021, but it took until January this year for work to begin on a ground-floor extension, which includes an accessible bedroom and wet room for Robbie, who uses a wheelchair, cannot speak and is fed with a landlord, Boston Borough Council, said Ayla's case was a "particularly complex" one and the authority was now working to "streamline" its referrals process. Robbie suffered brain damage after contracting meningitis as a toddler. It left him with complex issues, which also include visual and hearing says she was initially told she would have to wait a year for adaptations to be made after moving to the house in it took until May 2024 for planning permission to be granted for the work, meaning Robbie had to sleep in the family dining room.A further delay meant construction did not begin until January this year, with the work finally completed last month. Ayla said Robbie's wellbeing, along with her own physical and mental health, had improved since the extension was finished. "The stress has just gone because I'm now able to care for Robbie properly, the way that I should be able to care for him."Councillor John Baxter, the council's portfolio holder for housing, said: "We are very pleased to see that the completed adaptations have made a real difference."The council receives a huge volume of claims for disabled facilities grant referrals for adaptations, which puts pressure on our officers to find cost-effective solutions as quickly as possible." He added: "This was a particularly complex case, involving a wide variety of different partner agencies that had to be involved to arrange and then build the extension required at the property."Whilst the timeline here was not typical of the other adaptations carried out, we recognise that it is critical that tenants in Boston receive the right support as swiftly as possible, which is why we are working alongside our partners to streamline complex adaptations referrals across the borough as much as we can." Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
CBC
30-05-2025
- General
- CBC
'A devastating blow': Yellowknife man out of options after accessible housing project fails
Social Sharing Brian Carter is packing up 26 years of memories at his Yellowknife home. Carter, who is chair of the N.W.T. Disabilities Council, hoped to move into a long-awaited accessible housing project, until it was put on hold. "It's just very emotional, very tough," Carter said. Carter, his wife and another family member they live with are all disabled. Because of his deteriorating health issues and also a lack of accessible housing for his family, he has to leave the N.W.T., he said. "We had discussed about the possibility of moving into that home. And now I'm forced to make a major move on our own, disabled, with three of us disabled," Carter said. Since 2020, the disabilities council and Housing N.W.T had been working on a 45 to 50-unit apartment housing project in downtown Yellowknife. The goal was to create affordable housing tailored to the diverse needs of people with disabilities. The council had secured funding and a sub-lease on a plot from the territorial government. In February, the territory informed the council they wanted to use the land for another project and proposed other sites. But due to disagreements, the partnership fell apart. 'There's nothing available for them up here' Carter said they had worked on architectural designs and fundraising for the past five years. For him, the project would have meant greater security and stability. "My health is going down. I've got heart problems. I've gotten diabetes. My legs need to be amputated. I had cancer surgery last year that after a long delay, I was running my business while hooked up to a catheter ... yeah, it became very personal to me," Carter said. With the project in limbo, Carter said people with disabilities will continue to struggle with the lack of a housing solution. "People will continue to be transferred to institutions down south because there's nothing available for them up here." Carter said. "It's going to mean they're losing their contact with their communities, people lose their sense of dignity, and you know as disabled people that's a big thing is to be able to live in dignity." In an emailed statement, Housing N.W.T said the council didn't meet the deadlines under their lease agreement. "As milestones in the original lease agreement were not met ... Housing N.W.T. met with the NWTDC and expressed our interest in moving ahead on a more imminent housing project," the statement read. Carter disagrees with this. "We met every milestone ... I asked them to provide the proof of that, provide their letters to us requesting certain milestones." CBC News reached out to Housing N.W.T again, but didn't get a response by deadline. Significant need Charles Dent, the N.W.T. human rights commissioner, calls the situation a setback for people with disabilities, as there's a significant need that is not being met. "It certainly affects people's human rights in the broader scheme of things. If you take a look at the UN Declaration, it's certainly an issue that would show up there." With the project on hold, Dent said this means conditions for people with disabilities in the North won't improve any time soon. Marie-Josée Houle, Canada's federal housing advocate said there is a huge lack of accessible housing for people with disabilities which is "quite amplified for people in Canada's North." "People with disabilities face financial hardship, unsafe housing and the lack of supports and services at a far higher rate," Houle said. "Basically this is unacceptable," she added. Houle said policies should be made around people living with disabilities by keeping them central in discussions. Carter said the collapse of this project is more than just bureaucratic. "It's a devastating blow to people living with disabilities in the Northwest Territories who remain chronically underserved across housing," Carter said. Carter said he feels sad for the people of the North, and that another project like this could take another 10 years.
