The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Homeless seniors bracing for winter
Ross Robicheau, 62, lives in a tent but considers himself fortunate.
Fortunate, compared to most of the roughly two dozen people with whom he shares this homeless encampment.
“I keep a good spirit about me,” said Robicheau, who’s been living at Meagher Park in Halifax for the last two months. “There’s no sense getting mad about the situation I’m in. It is what it is. Some of these guys are worse off than I am, some of them have serious disabilities and they can’t work.”
Every weekday morning, he’s up at 5:30 a.m., grabs a quick bite to eat from the communal meal table. Then he gets on his well-worn mountain bike and heads for work in Dartmouth. A temp agency there, People Ready, assigns him labour jobs at various worksites. He’s able to keep up full-time employment despite serious prior injuries that left him with a broken neck and a steel plate in his heel.
He’s optimistic that he’ll save up enough money to afford some accommodation before the snow flies. But he worries about the prospect of tenting in the winter.
He’s one of two people older than 60 living at the park.
Earlier this fall, Eric Jonsson, a street navigator working with people experiencing homelessness in Halifax, surveyed 50 people living outside and 10 of them were 55 and older. A few were in their 70s and 80s.
Jonsson said he’s able to find accommodations for about two people a month in Metro Regional Housing Authority’s seniors subsidized apartment units. But that’s not enough to keep up with the demand.
“There’s just not enough housing,” said Jonsson. “For every homeless person, there’s a half-dozen people fighting for an apartment unit that we find.”
Robicheau had applied for a unit with the housing authority but his application went nowhere, he said.
He makes minimum wage at $12.95 an hour — nowhere near enough to meet the average rent in Halifax of more than $1,400 a month.
He can’t find a shelter bed, either.
“I just need to get trying to get myself inside a place,” he said. “I’ll climb my way out of this somehow.”
Wayne Moulton, 65, has also been a resident at the westend encampment dubbed People's Park for the last two months. Moulton's not as fortunate as Robicheau. He's been working and homeless on and off for the last 25 years. He's also looked for a shelter bed and applied for a unit with Metro Regional Housing and had no luck.
Right now, he's unemployed and makes whatever money he can by panhandling at the Willow Tree intersection at Robie Street and Quinpool Road.
He's eligible for an oldage pension but the federal government won't send his payments because he's got no fixed address, he said. Moulton also copes with mild bipolar disorder and a myriad of health conditions, including chronic stomach infections, chronic pain from arthritis and tendonitis. Moulton also has a stent in his chest from a recent heart attack.
“Is there anything good about being a Canadian citizen if you don't have money?" said Moulton with a laugh. “There are so many people just barely clinging to a place to live, especially on social assistance and even old-age pension.”
Like Robicheau, Moulton is blessed with survivor instincts.
“Am I afraid of the winter? No. Do I like being out in the winter? No. I'll sleep in a garage or a stairwell.”
Michelle Malette, executive director of Out of the Cold Community Association, said the issue of seniors' homelessness has been a long-standing problem in Halifax. When the organization ran its shelter out of the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre two years ago, a third of the clientele were people over 60, she said.
“We didn't have enough cots, we would let extra people in because it was so hard to just say no,” said Malette. “We would have a gym mat with some 70-year-old gentleman on it curled up under a blanket sleeping on the floor.
“This has been going on for years.”
The province is ultimately responsible for housing in Nova Scotia and funding Metro Regional Housing Authority.
The Chronicle Herald inquired with the Department of Community Services about whether the PC government has a plan to ensure homeless seniors are adequately housed before winter's arrival. A department spokesperson said only that they would continue to work with “community organizations to ensure all individuals experiencing homelessness have the supports they need.”
Halifax Regional Municipality has purchased 24 modular housing units as part of its strategy to help people like Robicheau and Moulton living in homeless encampments find permanent housing. The units are expected to be delivered to the municipality in less than two weeks.
Neither the city nor province has offered any timetable on when people will be able to move into the homes. HRM is still waiting on the province to respond to its request to contract service providers that can offer residents social and health supports.
The province won't say what supports it intends to provide.
“We are actively working with (HRM) on the modular concept and will continue to look for ways we can work with HRM and our community partners to support individuals experiencing homelessness,” said Community Services spokeswoman Joann Alberstat.