British Columbia

In an RV outside a B.C. Walmart, a senior dreams of housing

Nono Shen · The Canadian Press · Posted: Jan 27, 2024 4:06 PM PST | Last Updated: January 27

More seniors reporting having low incomes a ‘dramatic reversal’ from 3 decades ago, charity says.

Keith Light, 77, says he spent New Year’s Eve trying to get the engine of his recreational vehicle — outside a Walmart in East Vancouver — running to stay warm, while trying to imagine better times ahead.
“I just laid here and visualized B.C. Housing calling me and saying: ‘We have a place for you,'” said the former construction worker.

He is among a large population of elderly people living in poverty or are on its brink in B.C., where perennially high housing costs exacerbate countrywide cost-of-living woes.

• Seniors’ advocates fear a growing wave of homeless people over 60 as stock of affordable housing dwindles

Statistics show people 65 or older in the province are twice as likely as younger adults to be classified as having low income in 2021. But 20 years earlier, it was the other way around. 

Low-income rates among B.C. seniors have almost doubled since 2001, and are almost seven times higher than in 1996, according to government data…

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