A Regina senior is living in limbo after she says she was evicted from her home because of bureaucratic red tape.
Now, 71-year-old Jillian Ledrew is waiting for the federal government to step in as she and her cat have been calling a hotel room home for the past week. She’s waiting for Service Canada to restore part of her benefits and find her a permanent new place.
“We just need a place to go and feel secure. Safe and secure,” she told CTV Regina.
Ledrew normally receives just over $1,500 a month from the Canada Pension Plan, old age security, survivor’s pension and the guaranteed income supplement combined.
Service Canada conducted an assessment in July and she says she didn’t receive a letter to tell her. The following month, her survivor's pension and guaranteed income supplement had been withheld, cutting her monthly amount by $569.
“It stresses you even more than if you're younger,” Ledrew said. “And I said, ‘You know this is an awful shock, you should have sent me a letter, informed me.’”
And the cut to her benefits was a big issue for Ledrew. She had depended on that amount to pay for her expensive diabetes medication, buying the right food, and covering her $660 monthly rent.
She tried explaining to her landlord what had happened and that she had filed the paperwork to get the issue fixed. But he still forced her to move out.
“(I said) it’s going to take maybe a month but it’s coming, and he said, ‘I don't care, it’s money by the 15th of August or we have a right to start eviction.’”
Ledrew is in a “very extreme and serious situation,” according to Rochelle Berenyi of Carmichael Outreach Inc., a homelessness non-profit organization.
The group provides long-term and emergency services and long-term help to Regina's core surrounding area with “clothing, food and household goods to harm reduction services, health education and counseling referrals,” according to its Facebook page.
Ledrew’s story is just one of many others, according to Berenyi. Carmichael Outreach has been helping Ledrew and tracking down a new home.
“I think we need to see everybody stepping up, this isn't the kind of problem that one group or individual can fix,” Berenyi said. “We definitely need to see some changes in government with regards to housing costs, income supplements, with regards to anything like that that can help a person.”
Service Canada told CTV Regina that they couldn’t comment on Ledrew's case but they said, in general, they are doing everything they can to assist those in need.
With files from CTV Regina’s Creeson Agecoutay
