Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 10/05) - A Yellowknife senior, nearly blind and using a walker to get around, has been told she will have to leave the home she has lived in for 14 years.

Anne Fradsham, 75, says when her one-year lease with the Yellowknife Housing Authority came up for renewal last March, she thought it would be just a formality.

But she said Jim White, the housing authority's chief executive officer, told her she would have to move out of her publicly-subsidized home and into the Mary Murphy Seniors Home within the month to make room for a younger, disabled client.

Anne Fradsham, 75, with daughters Janet Hopkins (left) and Ruth Tedrick, says she doesn't want to leave her publicly-subsidized apartment and move into a seniors home. - Mike W. Bryant/NNSL photo

The seniors home comes equipped with individual apartment units and kitchenettes, but that doesn't matter to Fradsham.

"I started to cry, that was the first thing I did," said Fradsham. "I don't want to leave. This has been my home for 14 years."

A week later, she received a letter from White stating that "this transfer is deemed reasonable because you are a single senior with no dependents and do not qualify for a two-bedroom unit."

Fradsham and her daughters, Ruth Tedrick and Janet Hopkins, took the eviction notice to the housing authority board. Despite letters from Fradsham's doctor and a home care nurse stating the forced move would adversely affect her physical and emotional well-being, the appeal was rejected.

The only concession was to postpone her eviction to the end of August.

Fradsham moved into the ground floor of the townhouse-style unit near Ecole St. Joseph with her husband, but he died seven years ago.

For the last 10 years, the couple, and then just Fradsham received monthly visits from home care nurses. Her son Andrew has been staying with her since April.

Fradsham's children have made a routine in recent years of taking turns staying with her - something that wouldn't be allowed at a seniors home.

Her daughters say their mother is quite independent but terrified at the prospect of moving into Mary Murphy.

"She just needs to feel safe," said Hopkins.

"She needs someone with her at night. They just don't seem to understand that. I was told their would be a buzzer in her room. That's not the same."

David Kravitz, board chair for the Yellowknife Housing Authority, declined to comment, and referred inquiries to White.

White also declined to comment on Fradsham's situation but said low income and disabled clients are often moved to other locations when the need arises.

"We move clients all the time because of need," said White.

"We have that right, it's in the lease. It's a requirement of public housing because we have to make the best use of our resources.

"It's part of our direction from the NWT Housing Corp. We can't have resources not being used when we have families on our waiting list."

White said the housing authority currently has about 20 homes under its mandate that they consider accessible to disabled clients.

Fradsham is not alone in her fight to keep her home.

Barb Hood, executive director of the NWT Senior's Society, along with Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche, have since sent letters to the housing authority urging them to let her stay.

Cecily Hewitt, executive director of the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities, said it's well-known that seniors often don't fare well when forced into a seniors home.

"Often times people will cope very, very well for many years in an environment they know well," said Hewitt.

"And as soon as you move them out of that environment, especially when they don't choose to move on their own, their whole life skills regress."

Fradsham's MLA, Dave Ramsay, said he has spoken to Housing Corporation Minister David Krutko about her situation, but has yet to receive a response.

Krutko couldn't be reached for comment.

Fradsham, meanwhile, said she doesn't know how she will cope with the move.

"I wouldn't know my way around," she said.

"Around here, I know every corner."