At Cynthia’s previous SRO, she felt constantly on edge. Tensions with neighbours were high, and she often found herself in altercations. She started writing on walls and posting online about staff, behaviours that strained her relationships with both the building and the surrounding community. Eventually, the risk of eviction was real.

To keep her housed, Cynthia was transferred to Patricia. The first weeks were rocky. She didn’t fully trust staff and carried a lot of stress with her. But the Patricia team took a steady approach: helping her move, making space for her two birds (a budgie and a lovebird), supporting her with medications and checking in on her day to day. Home Support Workers pitched in with cleaning when needed.

Cynthia says things have shifted since. She feels less angry, less stressed. She spends time in the lobby, joins events and helps out when she can. Her birds are loving their new space.  

Cynthia is open about how hard it was to be homeless for four years in Alberta, and how poverty pushed her there in the first place. “People don’t want to be homeless,” she says. One of the reasons she moved to Vancouver was because there was very little empathy in her small-town community for people facing housing challenges.  

At Community Builders, she’s finding the patience and care that were missing before.  

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