Rolling into an uncertain housing future

George White is equal parts grateful and worried.

“I am really grateful I have a place but it doesn’t really solve the problem,” said White. “It is holding us over for a little, giving us a little breathing space.”

White, who has advanced multiple sclerosis and needs a wheelchair, likes his new barrier-free apartment at 1425 Block Line Rd. He can afford it — at least for now — thanks to the local music community that came together for a show at the Edelweiss Tavern, raising $18,000.

“It was really successful,” said White.

His longtime friend Bernie Vandonk organized the fundraiser after looking at apartments for months, and helped his friend move into the barrier-free unit in May.

For more than 10 years White lived on the main floor of an old house on Walter Street in Kitchener where he paid for a wheelchair ramp and other renovations to make it fully accessible. In December 2021, he was renovicted — his landlord wants to demolish the single-family home and build townhouses on the lot.

White paid $1,000 a month at his old apartment, which left him $300 a month for everything else. White made that work for a decade.

His new apartment is $2,400 a month, plus utilities.

To make that work, the Region of Waterloo told White he qualified for the Canada Ontario Housing Benefit, a program that helps vulnerable people cover market rents. White receives about $700 a month from that, but first he had to take his name off the waiting list for social housing.

So now, White pays the rent with $1,000 from his disability pension, the housing benefit program pays $700 and White has to spend another $700 a month from the funds raised by his friends and supporters in the music community.

“That is kind of always on the back of my mind when I go to sleep at night, I am just like: ‘Oh, how long can I keep this gig going? We’ll see what happens,’ ” said White.

At most, he has about 18 months before money from the fundraiser is gone. He is paying for some renovations at his new apartment too.

“I am just grateful that I found a place, I am just grateful we had a really successful fundraiser, it has made it possible for me for a while,” said White.

White and the Region of Waterloo disagreed about how long he was on the waiting list for an accessible, subsidized apartment provided by the region. The waiting list is eight years.

White said he’s been on the list that long, but the region’s housing officials said it was only five years. In any event, he needed the funds from the Canada Ontario Housing Benefit, so he agreed to take his name off the list.

“The long-term option that I was eventually going to get, a subsidized accessible unit from the region: Not any more, not going to happen,” said White.

“The most I have is a year and a half,” said White. “Then I am going to be looking for another place and start all over again. You just can’t win at this stuff.”

I am really grateful I have a place but it doesn’t really solve the problem.

GEORGE WHITE