HOUSING CRISIS: Woman in Kelowna will be homeless after cancer treatment
A woman battling cancer is losing her temporary housing placement soon, and says she has nowhere else to go.
Tamara Daley is receiving chemotherapy and daily radiation at Kelowna General Hospital and is currently being housed by the ministry in Accent Inn to be close to treatments.
Next week, Daley will be transferred to the Kelowna Rotary Cancer Lodge until July 6. That will be the last day of treatment and the last day she will have housing. She wants to stay close to the cancer supports she needs, but a month’s long search for an affordable place to live has produced nothing, leaving her uncertain for her future.
“My boyfriend is staying with me,” she said. “We have been searching for housing for months but there is not much here. We’ve gone to viewings where there have been around 50 others looking for housing at the same time. It is not possible for us to pay the high rental prices yet.”
That's because Kelowna, like many other Canadian cities, is in the midst of affordable housing crisis. It's the fourth most expensive major Canadian city for rents and real estate.
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Upon receiving her diagnosis in March, Daley and her boyfriend packed up their belongings and left their rental in Surrey. They lived in their car until treatments began and they moved into the motel.
“My boyfriend used to own a concrete company and was starting one up again in Surrey before we left,” she said. “He has been trying to find odd concrete jobs around here while we wait to get me through treatment.”
Daley is currently on income assistance and has applied for disability as she will still have a lot of healing to do following treatment.
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She said costs associated with her sickness and treatments, such as wipes, diapers and laxatives are adding up.
Daley has family living in Revelstoke and Vernon.
“Revelstoke is too far from the cancer agency,” she said. “My mom is in Vernon but she lives in a one-bedroom house. We don’t have family we can stay with there. My sister found out I was sick just after she rented her house out and went travelling.”
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Daley was able to find a temporary home with a friend in Sicamous for her dog Prada, who she has been missing badly.
“We are about to lose everything we own,” she said. “Our storage locker is in Abbotsford and we haven’t been able to pay the fees.
“If we don’t get help we’ll be living in a car while recovering from treatments. I’ll be ill and burnt from the radiation, it is a critical time in my cancer care.”
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