A senior citizen fears she’ll be living on the streets of Sault Ste. Marie this summer after she was evicted by her landlord — a move she alleges is being fuelled by greed.
Valerie Yukich has lived in the same apartment on Second Line West for nearly 24 years now and pays just $686.75 in rent each month.
Soon after the four-unit apartment building was taken over in 2023, the new landlord showed up to hand the 74-year-old an envelope containing a notice to end her tenancy.
“I slammed the door,” recalled Yukich.
“I was screaming . . . I was swearing, and I was crying.”
Yukich accepted an offer to move out of her home effective July 1, in exchange for free rent until her moving-out date, prior to a Landlord and Tenant Board hearing in February. A subsequent appeal launched by Yukich was denied.
The soon-to-be former tenant says she took the offer to move out under duress.
“It’s already changed my lifestyle. I’m depressed — I don’t bother with nobody, I don’t go out hardly anymore,” said Yukich. “I’m just sick about this.
“I don’t sleep at night.”
Yukich lives on Old Age Security pension and her Canadian Pension, in addition to a union pension earned through three decades of employment with the Ministry of Transportation.
She fears that her quality of life will be altered dramatically if she's forced to pay substantially more for rent each month.
“If I pay $1,500 a month rent, and moving expenses and phone and cable and groceries . . . I’ll have nothing to live on,” she said.
She worries she’ll be homeless in a few short months, due to the fact that her landlord wants to move into her apartment.
Yukich says that while some units have been vacated since she was handed the eviction notice, the landlord has signalled his intention to take over her apartment in particular.
Yukich says she was also denied an opportunity to rent another unit in the building when it opened up because she was told the landlord’s brother was moving in.
The longtime tenant firmly believes her eviction is motivated by the landlord’s desire to squeeze more money out of the rental units.
“Of course we know what’s going to go on here — he’s going to move in, he’s going to rip out the rugs, he’s going to paint,” Yukich alleged.
“By the end of the year . . . he’s going to rent it for $1,500, $1,600 a month, because it’s all about money.”
Brian Kment is Yukich’s landlord and owner of the apartment building. The 30-year-old says that he currently lives with his parents and is planning to move into her rental unit.
Kment declined being interviewed, opting to provide SooToday with a written statement instead.
He says the settlement reached between himself and Yukich was overseen by the Landlord and Tenant Board in order to “legally and properly facilitate the move.”
“The agreement allowed Ms. Yukich to remain in my unit for an additional five months, enough time for her to find a new residence,” Kment said in his statement.
“As well, Ms. Yukich was compensated with a cash settlement for any hardships and expenses the move may cause.”
Kment says Yukich can go through the Landlord and Tenant Board if she has any further concerns.
“I am surprised that Ms. Yukich is now going to the media with concerns as she had full opportunity to bring any issues or concerns forward during the mediation process at the Landlord and Tenant Board on Feb. 10,” he said in the statement.
Yukich, however, contends that she was not provided with any cash settlement as part of the agreement to move out.
Lately, she has been finding it difficult to secure any affordable place to rent in the Sault. A local rest home has told her there’s a five-year waiting list. Social Services has informed her that she makes too much money to qualify for geared-to-income housing.
The lack of rentals is especially prevalent in her west-end neighbourhood, where all of the necessary amenities are within walking distance.
“In this city, there’s nowhere really to go,” Yukich said. “I’m so used to living in the west end, and I have health issues and I don’t have family.”
The soon-to-be ousted tenant is applying for a spot in the new, 11-unit affordable apartment building at 664 Second Line West that’s being constructed.
“Am I getting in? Probably not,” said Yukich. “I’m in a damn pickle here because of greed.”
Yukich wanted to share her account of being evicted in order to shine a light on what she says is a growing problem in the Sault.
She’s spoken with a number of other renters with similar experiences. But those people, Yukich says, could afford to move.
“This is happening not only to me in this city — this is happening to other people too,” she said.