Disabled and homeless, Sudbury senior struggles to survive in a broken tent

A 60-year-old disabled, homeless woman in Sudbury is living in a collapsed tent, citing eviction and grief for her situation. Alana Everson reports.

Christine Robert, 60, has been living in a tent at a homeless encampment in Greater Sudbury since April.

Struggling with mental health and physical challenges, her struggles became worse in recent days when someone damaged her tent because she didn’t give them a cigarette.

When CTV News visited her at the Energy Court encampment, she was crawling into the collapsed tent in the pouring rain to get some mitts and dry socks.

Robert said living like this is tough as she suffers from severe mental health issues and osteoarthritis in her back and hip.

“Achy. Tired. I am tired of living like this -- it’s just impossible,” she said.

“Some days you just want to give up.”

‘You just want to give up’

Robert was evicted from her apartment by Greater Sudbury Housing for not taking care of it. She said she knows it’s her fault, but she was having a hard time coping after her sister died.

“I mean, she was my everything,” Robert said of her sister.

She didn’t have enough smokes to share when someone asked her recently, prompting the damage to her tent – and adding to her misery.

“So now I can only lie down or kneel in -- it gets very sore on the back and the neck,” Robert said.

Outreach workers confirmed to CTV news that seniors are just one demographic they are seeing more of living outdoors in encampments.

The Go Give Project does mobile outreach at encampment sites across the city. The charity said there has been a steady increase in homelessness, with more youth and seniors now living outdoors.

“There are a lot of factors,” said Ali Farooq, of the Go Give Project.

“With the economy, people are unable to afford housing and food at the same time. So some are making those sacrifices and then there are youth (who) are being aged out of the foster system, and they are ending up on the streets, as well.”

Robert said she is working with client navigators to try and find a warm place with a bed where she can live.

In the meantime, she will continue living in her tent, a situation she calls scary and unbearable.