Tag Archives: cost of living

CKMS News -2024-10-30- Senior Women Living Together matches housemates to counter rising costs of living

CKMS News -2024-10-30- Senior Women Living Together matches housemates to counter rising costs of living.

dan kellar
Kitchener, ON –
As landlords continue to raise rental prices across the country, many are being left behind. According to
rentals.ca, average rent in Canada has been increased by 25% since 2021. For some, the result is homelessness, and Waterloo Region is no exception – a recent report shows at least a 129% rise in chronic homelessness here since 2020.

“I knew I was going to be homeless at some point if I did not do something” says Pat Dunn, a widowed retiree now living in Peterborough. Dunn is the founder and the executive director of the non-profit organization Senior Women Living Together. Through subscriber generated profiles on their website, the organization finds matches for senior women, who then meet up to discuss living as housemates.  

This show features an interview with Pat Dunn who discusses her own brush with homelessness and rising rent led her to helping others in the same situation. The organization is currently promoting their free service in Waterloo Region.

CKMS News -2024-03-31- The Free Weekly Distro fills a need and “shares the bounty”

CKMS News -2024-03-31- The Free Weekly Distro fills a need and “shares the bounty”

by: dan kellar

Waterloo – 
As the cost of living crisis continues and the effects of high housing costs remain at the forefront of many discussions, record high food prices remain an important issue.

Since the fall of 2020, LSPIRG and Martin Luther University College have run a project out of the college, called “The Free Weekly Distro“, offering free food and basic home items to anyone who needs them. While the project’s webpage states The Distro started in response to “the serious level of food insecurity that was compounded due to COVID-19 unemployment and existing services being closed”, the mutual aid effort continues weekly as food costs have continued to rise.

This show features an Interview with Tavia Weber, the Distro Program Development and Partnerships Coordinator at Luther. Weber talks about the program’s origin, the effects of the high cost of living on students, and the massive growth in the program’s use.