Dan Hogan, 65, said he felt gutted as he moved his life from his apartment into his car Friday evening.
His injuries from a life in forestry and his recent eviction from the temporary housing at Parksville’s VIP Motel were too much for him to take.
“Just … like I’m giving up,” said the Parksville man.
Hogan said he was still struggling with how big the loss of his apartment would be in his life.
“A roof over my head, somewhere to live,” Hogan told CHEK News, while he cried.
The senior is one of nearly two dozen residents of this complex who were homeless and moved into the BC Housing funded complex called Ocean Place during the pandemic. It became what Helen Hiltunen considered her home.
“We feel awful. Everybody does. We’re so sad. Because we’ve got to know each other,” said Helen Hiltunen, an evicted Ocean Place resident.
“We all got along. We were like a giant family here. Now not,” said Hogan.
Residents had been notified months ago that the temporary housing would be closing March 31, but up until just days ago, believed that they’d won a reprieve and could stay.
The shock and sadness they felt while packing was fresh.
“I’ve had enough of being lied to man. If this is what they were going to do, at least let us know. Not like boom drop a bomb on you, there you go,” said evicted Ocean Place resident Rod Hall.
According to BC Housing every resident of Ocean Place has been offered alternate accommodation, but Friday, many still didn’t know where they would go.
“I’m so scared,” said evicted Ocean Place resident Corina Winter.
“I’m disabled, I got a hospital bed, I got a walker. I got a scooter,” said Winter.
Hogan says his offer was an overnight shelter bed, 40 minutes away.
“A shelter in Courtenay in a church, a dome thing. All cots. That’s it, or you’re sleeping on the floor. Well that’s not going to do any justice for me, my health and my back,” said Hogan.
“But is a car better?” CHEK News asked him.
“I don’t know, I just don’t know,” said Hogan.
“It’s like you feel lost again,” said Hiltunen.
Hours after they were told to move out, last-minute accommodations and negotiations were still underway.
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Skye Ryan
