Calgary senior concerned she won't be able to afford mortgage come her renewal
Calgary senior Brenda Willy is still living in the house she bought 36 years ago, but now she's worried she might have to sell.
"I had left my husband and was looking for a place to live," said the Midnapore resident.
"I came across this place and snapped it up. I've been in love with it ever since. I have so many memories here."
Willy says her mortgage is up for renewal next summer, and with interest rates going up, she expects to pay close to $300 more a month – money she says she doesn't have.
"Things are very tight for me, very tight," she said. "I'm a low-income senior, I have my mortgage, I have my taxes, I have a small loan that I had to take out for my water tank because I couldn't afford to pay it all at once - those are my major expenses. Food, utilities is huge, to run a vehicle and all that, just overall maintenance of a house is expensive."
Willy says the only way she may be able to stay in her home is if she extends her mortgage for 30 more years, an arrangement she says will likely outlive her.
Charles St. Arnaud, chief economist with Alberta Central, says more and more Canadians are being forced into similar situations.
"It started earlier this year with some people who had variable rate mortgage where their interest payments started to eat up all the payments that were going toward the principle," he said.
"We are seeing more and more borrowers that are in the same situation, and will have to extend their loan period to be able to cope with the high interest rates."
Willy says she never thought at this point in her life she'd be struggling to find a place to live."
"I've paid taxes in this country, I've worked since I was 16 years old," she said.
"They say they want seniors left in their homes, yet its getting to the point of how can we afford to stay in our homes?"
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.