Halifax senior couple forced to live in tent ‘extremely happy and thankful’ for apartment

globalnews.ca:

A Halifax senior couple that was struggling with housing and forced to live in a tent downtown is now celebrating, after being approved for a new apartment.An anonymous donor has also stepped up to pay for their first month’s rent and the damage deposit.“I am extremely happy and thankful to everybody that’s helped make this happen,” said Judy Howe through tears, as she and her partner George Gillmore stood in their new kitchen.“I’ve never been in this kind of situation in my life, and I never want to be in it again.”Both in their late 70s, the couple had been sleeping rough for the past seven months. Just last week, they called a tent off University Avenue home.With the help of organizations, including Welcome Housing, and a street navigator, the couple had applied repeatedly for housing, but couldn’t find anything that fit them or their budget.As the cold winter months approach, Howe said the couple was feeling despair.“Because if you sleep in a tent, the tent’s still on the ground and the snow can get underneath.

So it is going to be cold. It’s going to be damp.

And I was already told by somebody from Welcome Housing, they found five people that died last year from that,” she said.“I don’t want to die yet. I want to live to 100.”Howe began reaching out and speaking out about their struggles, to politicians and the media.“I asked the government for assistance, and the government hasn’t done nothing.

I text them, I call them,” she said.The couple were getting ready Thursday morning to attend their last apartment viewing before having to return to their tent on Friday. They were delighted to find out from the property manager, Jennifer Markey, they could move in immediately.“People that are 75-plus years of age,