Karl Eaton says he needs a place to live by July 31
Karl Eaton has had a job ever since he was 16.
Today, he works full-time for Telus and makes about $74,900 a year. However, the 55-year-old single father says that his take-home pay isn’t enough for him and his son to live in a two-bedroom apartment in Vancouver.
He told her, “I’m going to be homeless in about 30 days if I don’t find a place that I can afford, but not so much that it takes my whole salary.”The Early Edition host Gloria Macarenko.
Eaton and his 18-year-old son Tristan have been living in basement suites for the past two years, but they kept having to move because the owners sold the property or moved their relatives into the suite. They are staying with a friend right now, but they need to find a new home by July 31.
He said, “I’m pretty scared.” “If I can’t find a place to live, will I have to live in my car?” I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know what to do with my son.”
Eaton says that after taxes, his pay check comes to about $1,550 every two weeks. That comes to about $3,400 a month over the course of a year.
Rentals.ca says that the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Vancouver is now more than $3,600.
Eaton says he can’t find a two-bedroom apartment for less than half of his salary, which he needs so he can pay for things like groceries and his son’s college education.
Public plea for hel
He asked for help finding an apartment on a website for the Kitsilano neighborhood, saying that he does “not see any help for someone in [his] position.”
“I earn just enough to not qualify for single-parent status, but not enough to give my son a home, even though I’ve worked and paid taxes in Vancouver for 39 years.”
WATCH | Single father Karl Eaton tries to find a place to live by calling a helpline:
Eaton is on a few waitlists for co-ops and Metro Vancouver Housing. He says he is looking for anything cheap in the Lower Mainland, even as far as Coquitlam, which is about 30 kilometers east of Vancouver. He even tried to get help from the office of Premier David Eby, but he was told that he doesn’t qualify.
Eaton makes more than B.C. Housing’s maximum income limit of $72,000, which means he can’t get two-bedroom affordable housing.
“Even though I’m a useful member of society, I have to be broken or homeless to get help,” he said.
The Premier says that new homes are on the way
Eby says that Eaton’s life is like that of far too many people in British Columbia.
When asked if B.C. Housing should change its income limits to keep up with inflation, Eby said that the provincial agency already has “a significant waitlist” and that the province is focused on building more housing.
In an interview with CBC’s Macarenko, the premier said, “A lot of our new housing plan is geared toward middle-income people, and we’re going to use public land to build housing that people can actually rent or buy.”The Early Edition.
Eby says that one way to do this is to work with the federal and local governments to speed up the building of homes. He says that his government has passed laws that make it easier to get permits for new developments and tells municipalities how many homes they have to build.
But Eaton isn’t sure that more housing means more affordable housing, especially when he sees multi-unit houses being torn down.
“They are being torn down, but there won’t be any affordable housing built in their place,” he said. “In their place, high-end condos or townhomes will be built.”
The single father says that his son Tristan can’t choose a college until they know where they will live. The 18-year-old wants to take a math class online through the Vancouver Community College or go to Langara College to study biology and business.
Eaton says his son will have to work this summer to help pay the rent, but Eaton would like his son to be able to focus on school in the fall.