Our Supportive Housing program provides low-barrier, affordable housing to adults, seniors and people with disabilities who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Everyone’s story is unique – here’s Renee’s.
“I never thought I’d be homeless in Powell River.”
Renee has lived in Powell River since a few months before her 13th birthday. She and her mom moved up here from the lower mainland, and she’s been here ever since. She graduated from Brooks High School, and started digging clams as a teenager, which turned into a lifelong career. She retired last year.
Renee has always rented, and in early 2019 she found herself homeless: “I’ve had not a place to rent before, but could always stay at a hotel or a friend’s place or couch for a few weeks or a month until you found something to rent again. But the rents just went so high.”
After spending the winter in the emergency shelter, she learned about Lift’s supportive housing building opening up, and shelter staff supported her to submit an application to BC Housing. Her application was successful and she moved into the Joyce and Harvie supportive housing building in December 2019.
“I like it,” she says. “It’s nice to be here. I don’t have to worry about getting into a shelter every night.” The rent is affordable, and having a stable roof over her head has improved her quality of life. For the first time in her life she’s started painting, and has found it to be a new passion since moving into the building. More than a dozen of her paintings hang in the Supportive Housing hallways and common areas.
“The staff do a lot for people here…you get meals, you get medical help, your meds are delivered if you need them, you get rides to appointments, meetings.” Staff have supported her through her own medical issues, including a hospital stay last fall.
“What I hear is that the public thinks that everyone in here is a drug addict or a thief,” Renee tells us. “I don’t know if they realize that there are people in here who don’t do drugs or drink.”
Renee’s grateful for this building and sees a need for more housing specifically for people with higher substance use and mental health needs. “There’s a lot of people here who have (mental health) issues…and there’s no place for them to rent anymore. What I’d like to see is another building…for people who need a little extra help.”
March 2023