On July 31st, 2014, CARP Surrey-White Rock Chapter Chair Ramona Kaptyn was interviewed by Surrey Now for a story on seniors, their standard of living and the services available to those living below the poverty line. We will present an excerpt below that includes Ramona’s comments but the story is worth reading in its entirety via The Now. Amy Reid, the author, has gone to great lengths to provide readers with a detailed and arresting picture of the issues she has laid out in the story. She has interviewed several fascinating subjects who provide very interesting information and succeeds in creating a narrative that is both nationally relevant and highly detailed in its local focus. This is a multimedia story and a video can be viewed over at The Now.
SURREY, BRITISH COLUMBIA: A senior walked into the Surrey Food Bank some time ago with a story that brought the executive director to tears.
The woman’s husband had become extremely ill and was put into long-term care. After paying for her rent, basic necessities and her husband’s care, there was very little left over. She was going without food.
“She’s an example of people you don’t think need the food bank,” said executive director Marilyn Herrmann. “After 14 years in food-banking, I think I’ve heard every story and that was one I’d never thought about. As someone ages, their health-care costs are increasing. Where do you get the money from if you’re on a fixed income?” The food bank now has a program dedicated to seniors. Every two weeks, seniors can “shop” at the food bank, with the help of a volunteer, choosing items that best suit their needs.
The amount of seniors using the new program has tripled in just a year. It began serving 30 seniors last July, and the last depot served some 90 seniors.
Herrmann said in the past, the food bank has been focused on its signature Tiny Bundles program that serves infants and moms-to-be.
“We’ve been so focused on our babies and we didn’t think the seniors had that great a need. But they do, and they are a growing demographic,” she said.
Those in Surrey are generally living longer, and the proportion of older adults is increasing.
In 2011, 62,100 seniors (people aged 65 and older) were living in Surrey, representing 12.6 per cent of the total population of 493,200. That was an increase of 30,700 seniors since 1991.
It’s projected that by 2021 Surrey’s population will be 594,500, with 101,700 – or 17.1 per cent – of those people being seniors.
THE STRUGGLES SENIORS FACE
Ramona Kaptyn, chair of the South Surrey-White Rock chapter of CARP – A New Vision of Aging for Canada, says it’s a struggle to survive for many local seniors.
“You’d be amazed at how much poverty there is among senior women here,” Kaptyn said of the South Surrey, White Rock area.
While Kaptyn acknowledged seniors today are better off than almost any other time in history, many don’t realize how many single women are living in “hidden poverty.”
“They’re just living hand to mouth from the little bit they’re getting,” she said.
In 2011, 9,680 of Surrey’s seniors lived alone and the 2011 Census found that 6,505 – or 12 per cent – of Surrey’s seniors were considered to be low income. Low income seniors are more prevalent in neighbourhoods such as City Centre, where 39 per cent are considered low income.
CARP advocates all levels of government on a variety of issues, Kaptyn noted, and the current advocacy campaign focuses on pension reform. The campaign calls for Canadian Pension Plans to be increased, as well as a national pension summit and a universal pension plan.
The group notes 12 million Canadians – two thirds of the work force – do not have occupational pension plans.
Kaptyn said the organization is pleased to see Ontario developing its own pension plan, and hopes to see British Columbia do the same, because many seniors just aren’t able to get by.
In White Rock and Surrey, Kaptyn said, affordable housing is a huge issue.
According to Kaptyn, “there just aren’t that many places to rent anymore. A lot of rental properties are now condos, so affordable housing is a really big thing.”
Many low-income seniors’ households are renters and 44 per cent of senior-led renter households are considered to be in core housing need (paying more than 30 per cent of income on rent).
In December, 2013, 1,421 Surrey senior households received rent subsidies through BC Housing’s Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters program.
Surrey has approximately 1,000 nonmarket or social housing units for low-income seniors. In March, 2013, there were close to 250 Surrey households on the waiting list for seniors’ social housing.
Continue to the Surrey Now website for access to this full multimedia story
A senior walked into the Surrey Food Bank some time ago with a story that brought the executive director to tears.
The woman’s husband had become extremely ill and was put into long-term care. After paying for her rent, basic necessities and her husband’s care, there was very little left over. She was going without food.
“She’s an example of people you don’t think need the food bank,” said executive director Marilyn Herrmann. “After 14 years in food-banking, I think I’ve heard every story and that was one I’d never thought about. As someone ages, their health-care costs are increasing. Where do you get the money from if you’re on a fixed income?” The food bank now has a program dedicated to seniors. Every two weeks, seniors can “shop” at the food bank, with the help of a volunteer, choosing items that best suit their needs.
The amount of seniors using the new program has tripled in just a year. It began serving 30 seniors last July, and the last depot served some 90 seniors.
Herrmann said in the past, the food bank has been focused on its signature Tiny Bundles program that serves infants and moms-to-be.
“We’ve been so focused on our babies and we didn’t think the seniors had that great a need. But they do, and they are a growing demographic,” she said.
Those in Surrey are generally living longer, and the proportion of older adults is increasing.
In 2011, 62,100 seniors (people aged 65 and older) were living in Surrey, representing 12.6 per cent of the total population of 493,200. That was an increase of 30,700 seniors since 1991.
It’s projected that by 2021 Surrey’s population will be 594,500, with 101,700 – or 17.1 per cent – of those people being seniors.
– See more at: http://www.thenownewspaper.com/focus-the-struggles-of-being-a-senior-in-surrey-1.1269404#sthash.7wBz2zDI.dpuf
A senior walked into the Surrey Food Bank some time ago with a story that brought the executive director to tears.
The woman’s husband had become extremely ill and was put into long-term care. After paying for her rent, basic necessities and her husband’s care, there was very little left over. She was going without food.
“She’s an example of people you don’t think need the food bank,” said executive director Marilyn Herrmann. “After 14 years in food-banking, I think I’ve heard every story and that was one I’d never thought about. As someone ages, their health-care costs are increasing. Where do you get the money from if you’re on a fixed income?” The food bank now has a program dedicated to seniors. Every two weeks, seniors can “shop” at the food bank, with the help of a volunteer, choosing items that best suit their needs.
The amount of seniors using the new program has tripled in just a year. It began serving 30 seniors last July, and the last depot served some 90 seniors.
Herrmann said in the past, the food bank has been focused on its signature Tiny Bundles program that serves infants and moms-to-be.
“We’ve been so focused on our babies and we didn’t think the seniors had that great a need. But they do, and they are a growing demographic,” she said.
Those in Surrey are generally living longer, and the proportion of older adults is increasing.
In 2011, 62,100 seniors (people aged 65 and older) were living in Surrey, representing 12.6 per cent of the total population of 493,200. That was an increase of 30,700 seniors since 1991.
It’s projected that by 2021 Surrey’s population will be 594,500, with 101,700 – or 17.1 per cent – of those people being seniors.
– See more at: http://www.thenownewspaper.com/focus-the-struggles-of-being-a-senior-in-surrey-1.1269404#sthash.7wBz2zDI.dpuf
A senior walked into the Surrey Food Bank some time ago with a story that brought the executive director to tears.
The woman’s husband had become extremely ill and was put into long-term care. After paying for her rent, basic necessities and her husband’s care, there was very little left over. She was going without food.
“She’s an example of people you don’t think need the food bank,” said executive director Marilyn Herrmann. “After 14 years in food-banking, I think I’ve heard every story and that was one I’d never thought about. As someone ages, their health-care costs are increasing. Where do you get the money from if you’re on a fixed income?” The food bank now has a program dedicated to seniors. Every two weeks, seniors can “shop” at the food bank, with the help of a volunteer, choosing items that best suit their needs.
The amount of seniors using the new program has tripled in just a year. It began serving 30 seniors last July, and the last depot served some 90 seniors.
Herrmann said in the past, the food bank has been focused on its signature Tiny Bundles program that serves infants and moms-to-be.
“We’ve been so focused on our babies and we didn’t think the seniors had that great a need. But they do, and they are a growing demographic,” she said.
Those in Surrey are generally living longer, and the proportion of older adults is increasing.
In 2011, 62,100 seniors (people aged 65 and older) were living in Surrey, representing 12.6 per cent of the total population of 493,200. That was an increase of 30,700 seniors since 1991.
It’s projected that by 2021 Surrey’s population will be 594,500, with 101,700 – or 17.1 per cent – of those people being seniors.
– See more at: http://www.thenownewspaper.com/focus-the-struggles-of-being-a-senior-in-surrey-1.1269404#sthash.7wBz2zDI.dpuf
