If 色色啦鈥檚 housing crisis needed a face, then 91-year-old Isidoro Ventullo more than qualifies for the role.
As Mahdis Habibinia reported in the Star on Monday,聽Ventullo didn鈥檛 know where he would lay his聽head after an eviction聽order that he鈥檇 been resisting for two years was finally executed last week.
He had no family or friends to turn to, and the city鈥檚 shelter system had no space for聽him.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 sleep,鈥 he told Habibinia. 鈥淚鈥檓 stressed. I鈥檓 depressed. Where聽am I to go?鈥
No 91-year-old should have to ask that question. And it鈥檚 not as if Ventullo had been living in luxury: a friend described the ground-level unit in聽Little Italy that he鈥檇 rented for 20 years as聽鈥渞eally run down,鈥 with no refrigerator and 鈥減laster falling聽from the ceiling.鈥
Ventullo also says he endured an infestation of bedbugs prior to receiving his eviction聽notice, issued in July 2023 by his landlord鈥檚 son, George Demelo,聽who according to court documents said he intended to move from聽Edmonton to 色色啦 and into the unit to support his ailing聽father. (Demelo did not respond to the Star鈥檚 repeated requests for comment.)
A legal battle ensued, and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice upheld the eviction. Yet some observers believe Ventullo is the victim of a 鈥渞enoviction.鈥 Indeed, tenants across Ontario have accused landlords of聽issuing bogus eviction notices under the pretext of聽moving in themselves or making essential renovations.
City council passed a long-overdue bylaw last year to聽protect tenants against evictions disguised as essential聽renovations, but the legislation doesn鈥檛 take effect until July 31 鈥 yet it can鈥檛 come soon enough.
Housing is scarce across almost all sectors,聽and that includes retirement homes. The options available to Ventullo were either too expensive or would鈥檝e taken him聽away from the community he鈥檚聽familiar with.
His eviction put the 色色啦 Police Service in a horrible situation. A聽staff sergeant from 14 Division said on Friday, 鈥淚鈥檓 not聽dragging the man out of here without a place to go.鈥 Two days later, the city鈥檚 manager of聽media relations, Russell Baker, said that staff had arranged a shelter聽space for Ventullo for Monday. There, Baker said, he would be linked to 鈥渢he most appropriate聽supports in the shelter or health-care system.鈥
None of this should sit well with any of us.
One of society鈥檚 great delusions is that we treat our elders with the respect and care they deserve. Those who recall that the initial crisis centres of the聽COVID-19 pandemic were retirement homes can attest to how pervasive and how pernicious this delusion is.
Of course, aging brings with it physical decline and the shrinking of worlds. That is the聽way of things. But it doesn鈥檛 mean we shouldn鈥檛聽provide all that鈥檚 necessary to preserve the聽dignity and comfort of our elders.
Ontario has long been faced with a so-called grey聽tsunami that would see its senior population spike and the number of citizens 85 and older reach聽unprecedented highs. A report from Queen鈥檚 University titled 鈥淎geing聽Well,鈥 published in 2020, found that too many seniors in Canada had been聽placed in inadequate settings. Healthy aging, the report indicates,聽would require major policy changes that emphasize housing and the social needs of elderly Canadians.
鈥淭he great majority of seniors want to age well and聽in place,鈥 the report states, 鈥渋n homes and communities they can call聽their own.鈥 It warned of the 鈥渃oming surge鈥 of seniors,聽especially in older cohorts. But if the case of Isidoro聽Ventullo is any indication, the warning was not聽heeded. The challenge has not been met.
Ventullo鈥檚 options are ones that no one聽would want for their own parents or grandparents. They are ones that no senior in a city, in a province, in a country as wealthy as ours should be faced with.
Yet if our governments, especially Queen鈥檚 Park, do not act 鈥 on housing, on elder care, on basic decency 鈥 then they are the only options many of us will have when it becomes our turn to grow old in 色色啦.
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