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Kelowna  

Seniors fear homelessness

Seniors living at Kiwanis Towers in Kelowna fear they could be homeless within a month.

They say they are being threatened with eviction if they're not able to come up with several hundred dollars in back rent, dated to the first of the year, when new owners took over the building.

A number of tenants received rent subsidies through BC Housing when the building was owned and operated by the Central Okanagan Kiwanis Community Service Society. The society operated Kiwanis Tower since it was built in 1976.

Those subsidies ended when the building was sold to 1110 Lawrence Holding Ltd. in December of last year.

Now, tenants who received those subsidies are being told they have to make up the difference – in some cases, several hundred dollars, or they may be without a home.

One tenant, who asked not to be identified, said he paid just $320 of his monthly rent of $555, with BC Housing picking up the rest.

"That ($320) was a third of my income when BC Housing was here, when Kiwanis was here," he said.

"Now, it's coming up this back rent. They were saying at a meeting they were 'proceeding with what we are charging, and if you can't come up with something, that's not our problem.'"

He said some of the tenants are terrified of what's next.

"Reluctantly, some of them are going to borrow the money to pay for this. They're all stressed out because they get next to no money. They won't even have enough to pay it. We're all in debt here."

He said people don't know what to do. "There is zero vacancy in Kelowna," he said, and many people have nowhere else to go.

There is a fear, he said, tenants may be evicted so the new owners can bring in new tenants for higher rents.

Another woman, whose mother resides in Kiwanis Tower, said she was told at the beginning of the year not to worry, that her mom should just pay the regular amount.

"On Feb. 21, mom had a letter taped to her door saying the rent is going up to $575 March 1, and all of the residents owe back pay money from January. So, all of these seniors who are paying $300, $400 a month, have to come up with the difference by the end of March," she said.

Another tenant is accusing the new owners of "treating us like cattle."

She said she's lived at Kiwanis Towers for 11 years, and was told by a representative of the new owners to pay rent as she normally did. Now, she says, she also is being asked for back rent.

Furthermore, she said a notice was posted in a common area stating pets would no longer be allowed as of March 1.

"I have a guinea pig. I live alone and it's very therapeutic," she said. "He's my family."

She also said tenants who were in the building before a smoking ban came into effect were grandfathered and could smoke in their rooms.

She said that has also been banned as of the first, or people will be evicted.

"They're saying if you don't like it, leave."

Calls to Associated Property Management were not returned in time for publication.



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