Affordable housing requirement: Minimum income $53,000. This is set by BC Housing.

I’m helping a senior on a fixed pension look for housing, and it’s heartbreaking. Many “affordable” units require a minimum income that’s more than double what she receives. They are on the BC Housing waitlist. The waitlist at these places have hundreds of applications ahead of her, and she’s essentially told not to expect a place for five years. Landlords won't even look at her as the rent would be 100% of her income for a basic rundown basement suite.

This is someone who worked their whole life in retail, home care, and as a receptionist. She did all the right things as a single mom of three kids in 70s, 80s, and 90s, and is impressive especially considering how women were treated in that time. Yet she doesn't make enough to access the : “affordable” housing system. Her family is also struggling with their own families, showing how generational poverty keeps repeating.

If people on fixed or modest incomes can’t qualify for affordable housing, then the system isn’t affordable. We need housing that actually matches the realities of low-income seniors and workers.