Prevent homelessness: Help Maria and her son find a home

Serena Purdy is organizing this fundraiser.

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My name is Serena Purdy, and I met my neighbour Maria 4 years ago. It’s taken us that long to build up enough trust for her to tell me her story. Maria is a disabled senior (70yo) who is also the primary caregiver for her disabled adult son and she is being evicted. With limited options, she faces homelessness. She’s terrified, that the few options she does have would require her to be separated from her son and she would not be able to care for him.

Maria has lived in the community for 30 years, has a sweet tooth, and every now and then she shares memories of being a Portuguese folk dancer. She takes pride in her children and often says that the best days of her life were when her sons were born, second only to the days her two grandsons were born. The littlest on is proudly on his way to junior kindergarten. While one son is married, she has been her other son’s carer for 20 years. She’s quick to laugh, and has difficulty asking for help because she has always been the rock for others in her life.

She is currently supported by CPP and OAS. She doesn’t have a fridge or kitchen to make use of the food bank. She has gotten legal support from Kensington Bellwoods Community Legal Services who could not prevent her eviction, and housing advice from Cecil Community Centre who could not find her housing. I have walked beside her and watched doors close, one by one.

There doesn't seem to be much debate about the fact that her current housing in Kensington Market is rat-riddled and inadequate for human habitation and yet the rent is still far too high ($3,640.00/month for two rooms in a rooming house) for her to be able to pay on her pension. The only reason she ended up there was because she was being renovicted from her previous home. Needless to say, this has left Maria completely broke.

We have been searching for housing but many landlords in the area are looking for students or young professionals. A 2023 CMHC report: SHUT OUT found that “older adults also face rental discrimination – often driven by a perception of low or fixed incomes, and a fear that they will age into disability.” Not to mention, skyrocketing rent hikes have outpaced CPP and ODSP rates. Even though CPP is inflation-indexed, it doesn’t precisely rise in proportion to rent and grocery inflation.

Maria has been on the Rent Geared to Income (RGI) waitlist for 12 years. The closest she got in the most recent choice-based cycle was 192 on the waitlist and she seems to continually fall just between the established priority categories despite being in an objectively dire situation.

Things like couch surfing, short-term rentals, and shelter beds presume access to money, extended social networks with their own resources, and different age/family demographics. Looking into the shelter system they are built to serve men separately, women separately, or young families. Even if she could access them herself, she wouldn't be able to bring her son with her.

I can't imagine being up against those odds at her age. How many more seniors like her are we failing as a society because they can’t afford to live on CPP and OAS?

I’m asking for your help to make up some of that gap so that she can afford to rent a new home. We may have found a potential housing option for her that would cost $1600/month plus utilities. Our goal is $3400 to cover: