Victoria Brain Injury Society launches housing program
Cynthia Johnson does art therapy at the Victoria Brain Injury Society to help with the effects of a serious brain injury she suffered more than 25 years ago when she was hit by a drunk driver while on her bike.
It was a hit and run that altered the course of her life.
“She hit me on the pedestrian walk and left me there,” Johnson recalled Tuesday, while showing off one of her most recent artistic creations.
She has felt the effects of her brain injury in most aspects of her life ever since that fateful day, and securing a place to live in Victoria’s tight rental market has been even harder because of her injury.
“I've had a lot of issues with my memory, been a bit of a unique one here, because up until a few months ago my memory wiped every day,” Johnson said.
She recently moved — leaving a rough building and difficult living situation where she had been assaulted and her apartment had been repeatedly broken into.
In securing a new apartment last month, she benefited from help from staff at the Victoria Brain Injury Society.
“Helped me weekly to just keep calling and narrowing down,” she said. “I think the hardest thing to do with the housing list is filling out that form and navigating different sites,” she recalled.
Those types of challenges are exactly what the Victoria Brain Injury Society is aiming to tackle with a new housing program that will include a housing coordinator to help the approximately 1,600 clients they work with each year – a number that has nearly doubled since the pandemic began.
“[If] you have a brain injury, oftentimes it takes a while to get back to work,” said Pam Prewett, the society’s executive director.
“Even when you’re applying for BC Housing, there are forms to fill out, and the forms are confusing even for someone without a brain injury, so that’s where we come in,” said Prewett.
Chandra Sundaram also lives with a brain injury after suffering a stroke a mere 25 minutes after he was born. He went on to become a university professor, but the impact of his injury manifested later in life.
It took him nine years to find a place to live in Victoria's housing market.
“It was quite soul destroying,” he remembered Tuesday. “Sometimes you'd just come home and cry.”
He says if a housing coordinator had been available to help him navigate the process — including cutting through the red tape and paperwork for subsidized housing — it would have made a huge difference.
“It would have meant the world,” he said.
The society is encouraging folks to donate to their cause next Tuesday — with donations helping fund their new housing program aimed at helping put a roof over the head of folks like Johnson and Sundaram in a market that’s hard enough without extra hurdles.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Federal government grants B.C.'s request to recriminalize hard drugs in public spaces
The federal government is granting British Columbia's request to recriminalize hard drugs in public spaces, nearly two weeks after the province asked to end its pilot project early over concerns of public drug use.
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
Stormy Daniels took the witness stand Tuesday at Donald Trump's hush money trial, describing for jurors a sexual encounter the porn actor says she had with him in 2006 that resulted in her being paid off to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
MPs agree Canadian gov't should improve new disability benefit
The federal government needs to safeguard the incoming Canada Disability Benefit from clawbacks and do more to ensure it actually meets the stated aim of lifting people living with disabilities out of poverty, MPs from all parties agree.
King Charles too busy to see son Prince Harry during U.K. trip
Prince Harry will not be seeing his father King Charles during his current visit to Britain as the monarch will be too busy, Harry's spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Boy Scouts of America changing name for first time in 114 years, aiming for inclusivity
The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. It's a significant shift as the organization emerges from bankruptcy following a flood of sexual abuse claims and seeks to focus on inclusion.
opinion Tom Mulcair: Trudeau's handling of Poilievre's 'wacko' House turfing a clear sign of Liberal desperation
When Speaker Greg Fergus tossed out Pierre Poilievre from the House last week, "those of us who have experience as parliamentarians simply couldn't believe our eyes," writes former NDP leader Tom Mulcair in his column for CTVNews.ca
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
CFL suspends Argos QB Chad Kelly at least nine games following investigation
The CFL has suspended Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly at least nine games for violating the league's gender-based violence policy.