Joseph Wallack has found out for himself what it’s like to be homeless, and he claims B.C. Housing has let him down.

“Absolutely frightening,” the 51-year-old man told the Straight about his experience of staying at a Baptist church near Commercial Drive and East 1st Avenue in Vancouver for several days, with ending up on the street a possibility.

Wallack used to live in a private apartment in New Westminster, which he rented for about $600 from his monthly disability cheque of around $900.

When he got a unit for only $300 a month at Dolphin Square, a B.C. Housing facility in Richmond, he was quite ecstatic. “It was like, ‘Oh, I could eat,’” Wallack said.

Little did he know what lay ahead after he moved in on July 1 this year.

Wallack recounted that about 10 or 12 days after settling into his new place, he fell terribly sick, and was admitted to the emergency ward of St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. He was having spasms, and he felt that his body was “burning from the inside”.

Armed with a doctor’s certificate confirming he had a strong chemical reaction to an unknown substance in the building, he asked for a transfer.

While waiting for a new unit, he slept on his balcony. “After two months of sleeping on my balcony, they transferred me to a suite in the same building but one floor down,” Wallack said in a phone interview on November 27.

That didn’t help, and he later ended up in another emergency ward, this time at Vancouver General Hospital. “That’s when a friend of mine contacted this Baptist church group,” he recalled.

Doctors tried administering anti-allergy medication but it didn’t work. He was also given an asthma inhaler because he had trouble breathing. This also failed. He was put on steroids but his health didn’t improve.

“They said move out,” Wallack recalled. “They said obviously, ‘There’s nothing we can do for you medically.’”

It will be exactly three weeks tomorrow (December 1) since Wallack became a guest at the Baptist church. The church gave him until today (November 30) to move out.

Last Friday (November 27), Wallack was at a B.C. Housing office in Vancouver, and he asked for one of two things: either a unit at another location or a supplement so he can rent a private apartment.

Wallack left the office with neither of his requests granted. “I said, ‘That’s not acceptable; you’re making me homeless.’”

Because of the uncertainty of his situation, he searched for a private rental apartment, and found a small room in Vancouver’s Marpole area for $600 a month. “I just caught it right there on the edge or else I was going to be absolutely homeless,” Wallack said.

He can move in anytime but, then again, the rent will eat up most of his disability pay. “Now I’m going back to the situation where I was before I moved to B.C. Housing, back to a Spartan lifestyle, and it doesn’t thrill me,” Wallack said. “But it was the better option between the street and a roof.”

Wallack isn’t the only one in this situation. Another Dolphin Square resident, Robert Gibbens, has also developed a strong body reaction to whatever chemical is in the building.

Gibbens has been staying at a Salvation Army shelter. In a phone interview today (November 30), he told the Straight that he can stay there until December. He has been advised to either appeal for a longer stay or look for another shelter.

The matter has gotten the attention of Vancouver-Mount Pleasant NDP MLA Jenny Kwan.

Kwan noted in a phone interview that she has brought the cases of Wallack and Gibbens to the attention of B.C. Liberal Housing Minister Rich Coleman on three occasions.

“We have a situation in this building—for whatever it is—causing people to be ill,” Kwan told the Straight today (November 30). “Mr. Wallack, according to his doctor, has stated very clearly that he needs to vacate his building. Mr. Gibbens is in the same situation.”

Kwan also indicated that her office has heard that there are other tenants who have health complaints.

“B.C. Housing needs to go and find out what is wrong with that building,” Kwan said.

As of mid-morning today, Kwan was waiting for a call from Coleman and hoping that something can be worked out for Wallack and Gibbens.

Wallack is holding out a slim sliver of hope that today might be different from last Friday, when he was told by B.C. Housing staff that he shouldn’t expect anything soon.