NIABY.COM
(*Not In Anyone's Back Yard) "The Vancouver Police estimated that roughly a third of all police calls dealt with the mentally ill."-- Vancouver Sun February 14th 2008.
In a poll we ran on this website from May to November 2006, overwhelmingly, 84% of those who voted wanted seniors’ housing at 16th & Dunbar over of housing for drug addicts. Seniors’ housing would be specialized living units for those elderly residents who may have mobility problems, can no longer live independently in their homes and require 24-hour nursing care. Many senior citizens are currently forced to leave the community and live out their lives in other parts of the city or even other cities, because there is no subsidized seniors’ housing in our community. Or worse, they die in substandard housing while on lengthy waiting lists for residential care housing. Real people like Dunbar resident, Connie, waited in vain for this kind of housing. (Only first name used to protect her privacy.)
"Connie just wanted to stay in the community where she’s lived for 40 years, near her friends, her church, her family and where many fond memories reside. She raised a family here. Her two boys grew up in this neighbourhood, made friends, and went to school. Her husband eventually became ill after retirement and passed on. His ashes are now buried in St. Phillips Church backyard (in Dunbar). Connie lived a few more years in her house, visiting her friends and sister who lived close by, and making her regular visit to her husband’s grave. But Connie grew more and more dependant on outside help, and because she needed medical care and couldn’t live alone, she finally had to be put into a senior citizen home – in the Kensington area. No more friends to visit, and too far from her husbands' grave!" - recalled by her close friend & neighbour, Fritz.
Connie's story is not unusual. This happens to seniors everyday, not just in Dunbar but throughout the province. Here's why:
NIABY.com believes that seniors in their final years are entitled to their dignity and a quality place to live. They built this country through their hard work, many of them going to war so we could live in peace and democracy. And we pay back their sacrifices by offering no crutch when they need support in their final years. Many seniors with long-time spouses are even sent to different retirement homes hundreds of kilometers away from each other.
Why are our civic and provincial governments decreasing the number of residential care beds for seniors and replacing them with drug addict housing?
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