Time has run out for a local senior with cancer who has been evicted from her Pender Harbour home.
As Bonnie Shotropa, 67, has no housing lined up despite searching for a year, she is illegally staying in her former apartment while advocates and community members desperately raise funds to pay for emergency accommodation.
“She has nowhere to go. The only place she has to go is a homeless shelter,” said Shotropa’s advocate, Ken Carson. “It’s an act of civil disobedience because she has nowhere to live.”
“Because for somebody in her physical shape to go to a homeless shelter, that’s not an option.”
Shotropa is in treatment for stage 3 liver cancer.
As Shotropa has an income of $1,800 a month, most of the rentals available on the Coast are beyond her budget. For her current home, Shotropa pays $710 plus utilities.
When Lisa McGregor of Sunshine Coast Senior Care heard of Shotropa’s story, she couldn’t sit by.
Within five days, an online GoFundMe fundraiser started by McGregor raised $1,120 of its $5,000 goal
“I honestly didn’t realize how enormous the problem of seniors’ evictions was until we opened this can of worms,” McGregor told Coast Reporter in an email. “We’ve had messages from others begging us to help their mom, dad, friend, etc… because they have also recently received eviction notices from their homes on the Sunshine Coast. I wish we could help everyone, but sadly, it seems that although everyone wants help, it is understandably an overwhelming responsibility to take on alone and I think most of us have become numb to the problem.
“This is all a bit out of [Sunshine Coast Senior Care’s] expertise of holistic in-home care for seniors and those needing assistance at home while recovering from injuries, short and long-term disabilities, etc… but now we’ve seen how desperate the homeless situation truly is, it’s pretty difficult for us to ignore and just walk away.”
When Coast Reporter talked with Shotropa, she was between calls and visits with home care and trying to move her things. “I’m just still trying to stay in a good space,” she said. “I’ve had a good number of people calling but no finding a place yet.”
