So you think you can Lawyer?
Lucifer theGood
To: The Current Advocate Justice for All
Re: Preliminary Disclosure of information soliciting other opinions
regarding the validity of a charge of discrimination against the
Province of Saskatchewan and Universal Realty Ltd.
Cc: Dr. Baziany; Social Services, Province of Saskatchewan c/o Eleanor
Gartner
Bcc:
To whom this may concern,
In May of 2006 I was arrested by the Vernon RCMP and placed in holding
cell for one night. The next morning I was taken to the Vernon
Hospital where I was admitted to the Mental Health ward. Two days
later, after a one hour interview with a Dr. Kevin Stevenson, I was
diagnosed with schizophrenia.
After two months in hospital I was transferred from Vernon, British
Columbia to Brandon, Manitoba where I remained in hospital for another
month. At the end of my stay, I was given a bus ticket to Saskatoon
where the remainder of my family lives. The conditions of my release
demanded that when I got to Saskatoon, I was to report to the hospital
then arrange to have a Mental Health Worker assigned to my case to
make other living arrangements.
As told, I went directly to the Royal University Hospital with my
letter and after being admitted waited the rest of afternoon. I was
released. I had no medication. I had no place to stay. I spent that
fall and winter on the streets. This proves due diligence.
The next spring, I was charged with common assault which lead to a
court ordered arrest under the Canadian Mental Health Act and again I
was admitted to hospital. I spent approximately two weeks at the City
Hospital and was later transferred to RUH.
At the end of my hospital stay, approximately another month, I was
assigned a Mental Health Worker. We both went to Social Services to
make living arrangements and he assisted me in getting my apartment.
The following documentation outlines what happened next.
July 18, 2006 : Re: Social Services Document Request made by Dorothy
Theoret-Yee: Request for move form, rent receipt and Medical Form
within 30 days
July 22, 2006 : Re: Saskatoon Housing Coalition Furniture Grant
Request made by Ken Laing, Mental Health Transition Team Worker: Mr.
Laing informs Mrs. Yee that 1) the Transition Team is my contact, 2)
the request for the furniture grant of $1375, 3) the Transition Team
will be applying for the Rental Housing Supplement and 4) that DCRE
are to pay electricity and phone directly.
July 26, 2006 : Re: Community Resources Employment and Income
Assistance Michele Milne stating the furniture grant was denied
indicating that I need to be on assistance for at least 12 months and
stating the option of an appeal. An appeal was launched through the
advocacy group Justice for All.
I have a copy of the policy that states: "Advances/Special Needs :
Other than the advance no allowance may be provided to clients who
have been on assistance for less than 12 consecutive months unless the
need is urgent and is approved by the supervisor.
Coming from the streets and just recently released from the Mental
Health ward, I had absolutely nothing but literally one set of clothes
on my back. Would this be considered urgent?
The way I understood the arrangement, being that I had an appeal date,
is that I would be given the immediate advance if I did not appeal the
decision. Further I was not aware that I would have to pay back the
$240 advance at $40 per month. I submit that I was taken advantage of
due to my mental illness and the intoxicating influence of the
medication. In addition, my Mental Health Worker not contacted as per
the letter of July 22, 2006, nor was he present. If it is a simple
matter of reason, obviously I had more to gain with the appeal and
even if I lost, the advance would be still available.
July 28, 2006 : Re: Saskatchewan Community Resources : Saskatchewan
Rental Housing Supplement Confirmation Eligibility Account Number
1078008
This proves due diligence as the supplement was applied for by my
Mental Health Worker.
July 31, 2006 : Re: Saskatchewan Rental Housing Supplement :Phone In
information and PIN.
Having spoken to one of the representatives over the phone, it was
stated that all payments are made by direct deposit. I attempted to
get a bank account at the Saskatoon Credit Union at Panorama Mall in
Lawson Heights and was declined.
August 6, 2006 : I moved into my apartment. I still have in my
possession the unused Universal Realty Ltd. Condition of Premises
Checklist. Due to the medication there may have been another one
filled out but I do not have a copy of it. I have begun and will
establish my case for due diligence and thus, having kept all
correspondence, I did not lose my copy.
I do however have a copy of an email that I sent to Universal Realty
on August 9, 2006 requesting that someone come over for a move in
inspection, summing up some of the damages and the poor move in
condition of the apartment and asked if I could do the clean up work
in exchange for the outstanding balance on the damage deposit. My
email was declined.
My Mental Health Worker and I met with Burnell Loewen and he was made
aware of my mental illness and agreed to let me rent the apartment at
the end of July. On the day I moved into my apartment I was met at the
front entrance by Mr. Tom Cuelenaere. He refused to give me the keys
based on the fact that, when I opened my mailbox, one of my cheques,
my personal benefit, was oddly and unaccountably not there. I gave him
the rent cheque and the dispute was over the remaining amount of $65
for the balance of the rent and the outstanding balance, also $65, of
the damage deposit totaling $130. I made the case that I was not
allowed to move in until August 6 which was one week short of an
entire month but again, I was ignored.
I was forced to go down to Social Services who told me that both
cheques were sent thus I had to put a stop on the personal benefits
cheque. I still have the copy of the stub of the reissue of the cheque
which was dated August 10, 2006. This means, from August 6 to the 12th
when I received the cheque I had literally nothing but the clothes on
my back, not a stitch of furniture and nothing to eat.
August 8, 2006 : Universal Realty Tom Cuelenaere : Letter indicating
that full payment of rent has not been received and I am being
penalized $5 a day and if the balance of the unpaid rent and the
penalty are not received by 4pm on August 15th, I will be evicted
immediately. In addition, There is an outstanding balance on the
Security Deposit of $65. $35 is due on September 1 and $30 on Oct 1,
2006.
The total penalty ended up to be additional $30. Not that in addition
to these sums, I am being forced to pay $40/month for the advance.
Note: This is the first thing I received after only 3 days in the
apartment. The contact is either my Mental Health Worker or, if money
is the issue, my Social Worker. It is on the rental agreement. I have
no control over the money. So why does this letter come to me? Being
that Burnell Loewen was informed of my mental disability before I
moved in, I believe there is just too much going on here to be
attributed to my schizophrenia. This is an attack or at the very least
an extortion.
September 19, 2006 : Universal Realty Tom Cuelenaere : A reminder that
the $65 for the Security Deposit is due October 1, 2006. I could not
pay the scheduled $30 in September. Balance forward.
September 27, 2006 : Re: City of Saskatoon Corporate Services: Utility
Service payment is past due: $60.33 must be paid by October 10, 2006
or services will be disrupted which I was told also carries the fine
of a re-connection charge.
Note: As per the letter dated July 22, 2006 electricity and phone were
to be paid directly by Social Services. Again, why did I receive this
letter which obviously added more stress? It has only been month.
May 16, 2007 : Re: Community Resources : Income Assistance : Annual
Review scheduled for June 6, 2007.
Note: This is an annual review that is three months early.
At this point I felt the stress and symptoms of my mental illness were
developing. I set up and appointment with Dr. Baziany to discuss my
issues and to get some samples bottles of my medication rather than
fill an expensive prescription. My doctor first suggested that there
were no annual reviews for patients and I told him I needed a Medical
Report Form as per the list of required documentation. When I went to
Social Services, I was told that I had to pay $50 to get the Medical
Certificate for my doctor to fill in.
Note: On July 18, 2006 Social Services Document Request made by
Dorothy Theoret-Yee: I had 30 days to submit this form else lose
eligibility. This form was already submitted by my Mental Health
Worker. At this point you may start to understand my concern regarding
the nature of these letters. A pattern is forming. Patterns suggest
intentional behaviors.
June 14, 2007 : Re: Communication Form submitted by me indicating that
I just had my doctor's appointment, told them that my doctor asked
them to send him the Medical Certificate and indicated that if I could
not be reached at home to call my mother (who has an answering
machine) for which I provided the number.
By this point I was no longer answering my phone for the reason of
forcing all communications to be written so that I could have a
record. Speaking to people that know you are mentally ill tends to
make them say things that they will later deny. Further, due to my
mental disability, I do not handle stress well in these situations and
can become easily confused often saying things that will later be
called threats. Is it considered a threat to defend ones self against
someone who knows that you are mental ill?
The Medical Certificate form was filled out by Dr. Baziany and his
offices submitted it on my behalf.
June 28, 2007 : Re: Community Resources Income Assistance, Eileen
Foster: Letter to inform me that my benefits will be cancelled unless
I attend my annual review and that several calls were made to no
avail.
Again, only three weeks before I was at Social Services regarding my
Annual Review (as one of the listed documentation was my Medical
Certificate and I did not know how to get one) where they told me that
I needed a Medical Certificate form to be filled out by my doctor. So
I immediately arranged an appointment and then, immediately after that
appointment I went directly to Social Services and submitted the
Communication dated June 14, 2007. This proves due diligence.
August 8, 2007 : Universal Realty Burnell Loewen: Rent payment is now
over due. I will be charged $5 a day and if account is not paid by 4pm
August 15th, I will be evicted immediately. Note: This is the same
date and the same letter from the year before.
Again, I have no control over the money and made Universal Realty
aware of this last time telling them to use the contact provided on
the rental agreement. I ask why these letters are being sent to me and
not Social Services? Social Services waited until almost the last day
without notifying me and I was forced to pay an additional $65 in
fines out of my personal benefit cheque.
August 13, 2007 : Re: Community Resources Document Request Eileen
Foster: a request for phone bill in my name, 2006 Notice of
assessment, current rent receipt.
As you can see, again I am being asked to submit information that was
already handed in.
September 26, 2007 : Universal Realty Notice of Rent Increase : From
$385 to $425 Effective: January 1, 2008. This is a 10% increase.
November 15, 2007 : re: Community Resources Income Assistance Eileen
Foster : A request to get a bank account and if this is not possible
to get a letter from the bank that says so.
November 20, 2007 : Re: Affinity Credit Union : Application for an
account denied due to information contained in a credit report.
November 20, 2007 : Re: Communication Form from myself indicating that
I went to the bank to get an account but was denied due to a poor
credit history.
April 22, 2008 : Universal Realty Notice of Rent Increase : From $425
to $475 Effective: August 1, 2008. This is a 12% increase. Last
increase 7 months ago.
September 29, 2008 : Universal Realty Notice of Rent Increase : From
$475 to $525 Effective: January 1, 2009. This is a 10.5% increase.
Last increase 6 months ago.
April 21, 2009 : Re: Ministry of Social Services Income Assistance
Eleanor Gartner : Annual Review scheduled for June 4, 2009. Three
months early but note:
May 26, 2009 : Ministry of Social Services Income Assistance Eleanor
Gartner : Annual review postponed until further notice.
May 28, 2009 : Universal Realty Notice of Rent Increase : From $525 to
$650 Effective: Dec 1, 2009. This is a 19% increase. Last increase 11
months ago.
In other words since I have lived here, 3 years and 4 months from this
date, the rent has increased 41%. More on this later.
June 24, 2009 : Ministry of Social Services Income Assistance Brenda
Wiebe for Eleanor Gartner: Rent benefit will be decreasing from $525
to $459 as of November 1, 2009.
I may well be mentally disabled but am I the only one who wonders why
my rent is being dropped from $525 to $459? This letter was sent prior
to my Annual Review and lands suspiciously one month before the rent
increase to $650 creating a $191 deficit that I have to pay from my
personal benefit cheque. After the Money Mart fee, utilities and phone
(which Social Services does not pay directly as arranged in the July
22, 2006, letter from my Mental Health Worker), this leaves me $125
for one months worth of food and toiletries and all other expenses.
For just food alone I spend a minimum of $175 per month in order to
maintain the diet necessary to keep my mental chemistry stable.
July 13, 2009 : Re: Saskatoon Housing Authority : Due to the rent
increase and benefit decrease and not being able to get the SRHS
supplement, I filled out the SAA forms as an attempt to move from 22nd
Street and was turned away. I still have a copy of the ''completed
forms''. This is due diligence.
July 29, 2009 : Ministry of Social Services Income Assistance Kristi
Fisher for Eleanor Gartner : Annual Review scheduled for August 6,
2009.
August 6, 2009 : During this review I gave the substitute worker a
copy of the letter received from Universal Realty May 28, 2009
indicating that my rent was going up to $650. She suggested that I
move and I said I am trying to but I need some help with dealing with
people. Her response was to hand me a moving form and a list of rental
property mangers.
November 30, 2009 : Re: Communication form from me to Eleanor
Gartner : indicating that my rent cheque was $459 and my rent for
December was $650. I tried to subtly remind her that I was staring to
feel some stress which would lead to the increase of my costs to the
Province if I can no longer cope and am forced to set another doctor's
appointment.
My psychiatrist Dr. Baziany has placed a great amount of trust in me
by allowing me to not take medication nor does he require me to attend
regular sessions due to an action plan of reducing stress, proper diet
and exercise as an alternative. Thus far, this plan has worked. The
alternative to this plan is two doctor's visits a month, a very
expensive medication and possibly more time in the hospital.
I further noted that this is happening at Christmas.
December 9, 2009 : Ministry of Social Services Income assistance
Eleanor Gartner : the response to my Communication said that I was
notified about the decrease of my rent benefit and she included a copy
of the her letter dated June 24, 2009.
December 11, 2009 : Communication Form from me to Eleanor Gartner: I
agreed with her reminder but also informed her that the issue was $459
dollar rent benefit was based on a $525 rent not the increased rent of
$650. I reminder her that in order to get the SRHS supplement that I
needed a bank account which I cannot get as per the letter in her file
dated November 20, 2007. In addition I mentioned that my personal
benefit had also dropped for no apparent reason by $10. Assuming she
had lost my file I enclosed copies of my Nov rent receipt of $525 and
my Dec rent receipt of $650. Finally, in hopes of getting a meeting
with my worker I reminded her that she has been my worker for almost
two years. We have never met. The two annual reviews were handled by
substitute workers.
Generally speaking my rent benefit has been between 90-95% of the rent
amount ( I have always paid the balance out of my own benefit cheque
so that I can say with integrity that I pay rent) with the exception
of the last few months before this current increase to $650 where my
rent benefit and rent were the same.
As of the date of this Preliminary Discourse, I have received no
response from Social Services.
The next point in this case is about the amount of the rent in
relation to other accommodations in the city of equal amount.
When I moved in three years ago my rent started at $385. Now, just
three years later that rent has soared to $650. I live at 1801 22nd St
which was the lowest rent my Mental Health Worker and I could find and
it is in the worst neighborhood in the city. My mother lives in Lawson
Heights for $670. Why not move there? I can not afford where I am now.
Not only is my neighborhood full of violence and crime but the
building itself is fit to be condemned. I have documented evidence and
several credible witnesses that will testify to the condition of my
apartment and have witnessed me stating these issues to Universal
Realty Ltd.
First and foremost, of the three winters I have lived here including
this one, I have no heat. My apartment temperature is consistently
around minus 10. Obviously I have talked to Universal Realty Ltd.
about this several times and in fact endured a comment by Tom
Cuelenaere to the tune of "boy it sure is warm in here" referring to
their offices where and while I was paying rent.
For the first time this winter, I picked up a small heater and moved
my things into my room. But I can not afford what will be a
significant increase in my utilities.
But this is just the beginning of my complaints. Looking to the bay
window on the south side one can easily see that the roof is
collapsing. The upper portion of the window frame is bowed down and
the bottom of the frame is bowed up, each by ''at least'' an inch.
This has caused the inner pane of glass to split. There is no point of
impact. This is clearly a stress fracture. In the winter the windows
can not be opened due to at least an inch of ice build up. There is no
opportunity for fresh air.
In the bathroom, the tiles are falling off the wall. I can prove this
is not due to the glue being too old but in fact is caused by the
compression of the walls. There is undeniable evidence of black mold
and the fan does not work. I am unable to shower in the winter due to
the excessive steam.
Throughout the apartment the ceiling has several large cracks
extending from wall to wall which open to about 2 to 5mm with the
weight of the snow and each winter these are getting bigger. This
summer I experienced an extreme infestation of some sort of biting
blood sucking bug. Recently, at the beginning of December of this
year, without warning or notice the water was shut off for two days.
As a further piece of evidence I bring to your attention the
improperly installed smoke detector that bears the sticker of October.
This proves that someone comes through the building at least once a
year. I have taped on my thermostat a thermometer that shows the
temperature of the room. You can't miss it. The blinds are left up so
that the broken window can bee seen. The bathroom door is left open so
you can see a shower curtain taped to the wall to prevent further
damage to the tiles in the bathroom. The black mold covers the
ceiling.
Does it not seem that upon witnessing this extreme damage, that anyone
can see without inspection, that my landlord is grossly negligent in
his responsibilities? Then why, when the smoke detector batteries were
replaced did the building manager not notice? Knowing the amount of
damage in the building, why did he not take this time to inspect the
suite? Further, based on your first impressions how could he miss it?
So, whether or not I can I can not prove that I raised these issues
with Universal Realty, this point is inescapable negligence.
The reason I am discussing these issues is to make a point regarding
the current rate of rent. There is no question that it is extreme but
in exchange for this absurdity, is it unreasonable for me, a long term
tenant, to expect the same amount of diligence, maintenance and
repairs as an equitable rental suite with air conditioning, fresh
paint, in suite washer and dryer, two bedrooms, walk out entrance,
deck and small yard w/ garden and in a low crime and violence
neighborhood?
Over these three and a half years I have gotten to know several of the
other residents in my building and have witnessed extreme uses of
unnecessary force by Burnell Loewen. I have kept in touch with some of
these people and am prepared to gather more information regarding the
abuses of the management of Universal Realty towards its clients.
The purpose of this document is to solicit additional advice regarding
a potential discrimination lawsuit against the Province of
Saskatchewan and Universal Realty. I believe I have demonstrated due
diligence and patience when dealing with these issues and hope that
you can see passed my mental disability. If you believe there are
enough grounds to pursue this issue, I know enough previous tenants
and have witnessed enough abuses to move towards a class action suit.
I also have proof that not only have I been looking for another place
to live but as of yet had no luck, but I can also prove that I have
been looking for work but again, it doesn't take long for word to get
around.
I give my expressed written permission to freely distribute this
document to others you may feel would be productive to involve.
Sincerely,
Tim Harris
#13 1801 22nd St. W
Saskatoon, SK
S7M 0T6