By Kendall Worth!
I brought you a story on December 05, 2022 about Katlin (not her real name) Her story was about how she was given ‘til March 1st 2023 to get rid of the “clutter” (hoarding) in her apt. or she will be served with an Official Notice of Eviction. She was served this notice by her Landlord because through a Building inspection, it was determined that the amount of material in her apartment was a fire hazard.
I also mentioned Katlin in a post on December 16, 2022 where I suggested “that through the existence of a Social Prescription Program, she can meet people and hopefully develop a circle of friends who can help her out, when she needs it” . Also in the story of December 11, 2022 another short update on Katlin described a phone call from her MLA’s office who offered to try and help her get a housing Rental Subsidy and found her a donation of a shopping cart.
The Current update on Katlin brings some good news!
It turns out the MLA’s office, initially unknown to her, was working on her behalf. Just before the MLA office closed for Christmas, they called to inform her that they had spoken to a casework Supervisor to complain about the Income Assistance Caseworker telling Katlin to start attending Church on Sunday, and telling Katlin to get help through the Church she chooses. I reported on the fact that her caseworker told her to do this on December 5th 2022 . Katlin was looking for a truck to get rid of the clutter in her apartment and to avoid eviction. As you may remember “She called her Income Assistance Caseworker to see if, under these circumstances, she could get the cost of hiring a truck covered. Her IA Caseworker informed that they can only cover the cost of a truck if she is moving. The IA Caseworker had to say no because the purpose was to get her donations to Value Village, or elsewhere. Katlin's IA caseworker suggested that Katlin get herself affiliated with a Church somewhere on Sunday, and get help from the Church she chooses. Katlin believes that it was unprofessional for an Income Assistance Caseworker to give her that advice”.
The MLA’s staff agreed with her that this was very unprofessional advice from the IA caseworker, and suggested that Katlin should get an apology from her caseworker.
At 9am December 19th 2022, the MLA Staff called to tell Katlin know, that later that same day, she was going to be getting a phone call from an income assistance caseworker supervisor to talk to Katlin about another solution for moving her stuff. During that phone call the Supervisor apologized for the Caseworker’s unprofessional-ism. Then, it turned out that the Supervisor also gave her the name of a Church to contact. He explained to Katlin, that if she calls, the church will provide a truck and the driver to get the clutter out of her apartment. He also explained, and reassured Katlin, she will not be expected to attend services on Sundays in return for that Church helping her out.
So, she contacted the Church and the Supervisor turned out to be correct. It was like a late Christmas present. On December 27th a truck showed up at her place, arranged and paid for through the Church, and she was able to get 2 truckloads of her clutter to Mission Mart. Also the Church is going to cover the cost of a storage space for some stuff she does not want to part with. The storage space is now rented and the truck is coming back on January 9th 2023 to transport goods, she does not want to part with, to storage.
But the Question is Will that be enough to satisfy the landlord and to avoid an eviction notice on March 1st?
Keeping Fingers Crossed!
Also, her paper work has been filed for a Rental Subsidy. The MLA office says she should be hearing about that soon.
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