Faced with no other options, a local senior couple is staring down homelessness as early as Sunday.
Norm Lewthwaite and his wife, Debbie, have lived at their Barrie Road apartment since 2021, but a host of health issues and vehicle troubles have caused the couple to fall eight months behind on their rent.
They are set to be evicted on May 1.
Lewthwaite, 75, has been out of work for more than a year, despite trying to find steady employment.
At his last steady job as a pizza delivery driver, he damaged his car at work and had trouble getting it repaired.
“Everything was fine until about a year ago,” he told OrilliaMatters. “I hit a deer, and because I was delivering pizza and I didn't have the proper insurance, they wouldn't fix my car, so I was without a car for three months … (and) I got behind on my rent.”
Although a friend helped with repairing his car, Lewthwaite’s troubles persisted.
He found some piecemeal work clearing snow, among other employment opportunities, but he lives with diabetes and had to have a portion of his leg amputated following an infection several months ago.
“I lost my leg. Our church has helped us out twice, but because of the accident … and because of my age, nobody wants to hire me,” he said.
He mentioned a local company hired him as his leg issues were unfolding, and – through his insurance – the job can be held for him for up to five months, but he is still awaiting casting and fitting appointments for a prosthetic leg.
Lewthwaite also said he has had issues finding work due to an assault charge from 40 years ago, which he cannot afford to get cleared.
“If I go to someplace to get it done, you can't do it on your own, so you go to someplace to get it done and they want $1,000,” he lamented.
Lewthwaite’s wife, also in her 70s, had to stop working as a PSW almost two years ago due to health issues, he said, and the two now have a combined pension of roughly $2,000 per month to subsist on.
Their $1,700 rent has proven to be prohibitively expensive without a working income, and the couple has sought more affordable options in the area over the past several months – to no avail.
“We were looking for a place in the meantime, but could not find anything affordable,” Lewthwaite said. “We only get our income, our old age pension and CPP, and it's not enough to live on.”
Lewthwaite said they recently looked at a place advertised at $1,300 per month, which was then hiked to $1,700 per month plus utilities.
He noted that single bedrooms in the city are being listed for up to $900 per month, with one-bedroom apartments often going for as much as his current rent.
“Where are we supposed to go? We're going to go on the street. We're going to end up putting our stuff in a storage unit at $300 a month, and we won't have anything else but to sleep in our car,” he said.
“There's nothing out there that we can afford, and even a one-bedroom – we can't afford it. By the time you pay your utilities … we can’t afford it.”
Lewthwaite said other options, like the Lighthouse shelter, are not an option due to the couple’s health issues, and he said the agency's supportive housing apartments have a waitlist.
Though he is aware of affordable housing projects getting built in the city, he pointed out that many, like the 130-unit complex coming to West Street North, have yet to be completed.
“We're being pushed out of everywhere. I mean, why aren't they building more social housing?” Lewthwaite said. “We've got one up on (West Street), but it won't be ready till the fall for the one part of it, and the other part (won’t) be ready till next year sometime. In the meantime, where are we supposed to go?”
As a growing number of people face issues related to affording housing and day-to-day life, Lewthwaite – who said he has worked all his life – feels the need to speak out about his current situation.
“People got to stand up and say, ‘OK, hey, here's what's going on with us,’” he said. “How many more people are like this? And if you are, let's start doing something about it."
He said regulations must change.
“We should be having builders told, if you're going to build 10,000 homes, of that 10,000 homes, we want 15 per cent helping people out … and that should be a law.”
Lewthwaite's landlord, Shoreline Property Management, did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication of this story.
