A 76-year-old Sidney woman who collects empty cans to supplement her pension faces eviction for failing to pay back rent on income from those cans, but has not yet said whether she will pay up because her landlords don’t deserve it — at least in her mind.

Zora Hlevnjak, who has been a familiar figure in Sidney for years seen collecting cans, faces eviction on Jan. 21 from her subsidized housing unit because of failure to pay $1,087 for three month’s worth of rent following a rent increase. She had previously paid $524 per month under the terms of provincially subsidized housing, but now faces a monthly bill of $887.

This is an issue of human rights - we cannot allow Beacon Community Services to continue to push Zora out into the street because she spends days and nights collecting cans and bottles to supplement her income. This is not how we treat our vulnerable seniors. 

We can help by raising funds to help Zora cover the rent increase that Beacon Community Services is unfairly demanding from Zora. We can also write letters to Tim Brien at Beacon Community Services in Sidney, insisting that they allow Zora to continue to remain in her apartment and waiving the increase in rent he has demanded of her.