My friend Ann needs to relocate soon, and really needs an accessible place where exposures to pollutants are minimized as much as possible.
The Plays that Says Here
Painting by Ann Cognito
She has written about her needs here:
Hello, I am a friend of Linda’s, who needs to find safe and accommodative housing. My name is Ann Cognito (pen name – my legal surname is Bucknor).
I am an older woman with disabilities and serious long term health issues including severe chronic pain (multiple causes) and severe environmental/chemical intolerances (probably MCS; I’m on a very long list waiting for assessment at the Women’s College Hospital Environmental Health Clinic). I am also agoraphobic, autistic, and have CPTSD.
Before my health deteriorated so much, I used to have a career, and owned my home. I am very well educated, and an environmental activist. While I was still able to function more, I walked from Calgary to Ottawa with my support/service dog to raise awareness about the climate crisis.
I am now looking for safe housing, again.
The place I’ve been renting is going to be torn down soon and replaced with parking for the adjacent hospital. I don’t know when yet, and will be given notice, but it will be soon; I need to act preemptively and find a place. It’s been in the works for a while already – it’s not a ‘maybe later eventually’ thing… it’s happening.
I’m reapplying to all the subsidized housing lists I’m allowed to, but those lists can take years and I only have months. Also, the vast majority cannot accommodate MCS/ES related medical needs, which means a wait would be so much longer. I am looking at listings, rejoining rental groups on fb, and yes, praying.
Finding an accessible, safe home will be challenging due to my disabilities and health issues, as well as my very limited income. If you have or know of an available or potentially available apartment, trailer, bunkie, or something, please let me know (contact information below).
I’m currently near Kingston, but It does NOT have to be in this area or even near… I’ll go wherever I can – it just has to be safe, and relatively affordable (I know that’s asking for a miracle). Even a very rural place would be good if there’s a way to get monthly groceries (I don’t drive, except for a mobility scooter).
What follows is a list of my housing needs, in light of my disabilities and health issues.
These are not preferences – they are all considerations/accommodations in relation to my health and disability related issues.
* Must allow me to keep my dog – keeping Mr Myrtle is NOT negotiable
* No stairs
* No forced air heating
* No shared accommodations
* Private entrance… no common area to access my unit
* Not recently renovated or painted
* No laminate or carpet
* No adjacent gas stations
* Not on a high traffic road
* Not in a city unless it’s on the outskirts
* My budget is approximately $1000/month (which leaves half that much more for all other needs and expenses, but I will continue to manage that, because I have to)
I have mobility needs, hence the need for no stairs, though I have an elevator type lift which I can move and reinstall to accommodate no more than three or four steps.
I cannot share space and indoor air, as this causes very bad physical and neurological reactions.
Other people’s personal care and cleaning products, etc, will affect me badly. So will recent renovation products, laminate flooring, adjacent fumes from gas stations, etc.
Preferences went out the window a long time ago, although a quiet area really would be preferred, if at all possible.
I’m already scared. MMS and I can’t be homeless – I am not physically able to manage that. I am not even physically able to camp any more.
Thank you for any ideas and help you may have,
Ann
Please contact me via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ann.cognito.1) or Messenger (Ann Cognito),
or by email at < swan1 @ ualberta.ca > (please remove the spaces before and after the @)
Admin Note,
Ann is willing to leave Ontario for another province, but her income would take a hit for a few months while provincial disability benefits were applied for (these are not transferable between provinces), leaving her with only a bit over $900 mo from CPPD, which isn’t enough to live on, so a private subsidy to make up the difference would need to be offered during that transition.
I will add too that if Ann could live near water, on a coast, she’d absolutely love that, and the fresh air would improve her health too.
Please put your hearts and minds and networks together to find a good home for Ann and Mr Myrtle.
Here is Ann’s website, filled with many wondrous things. If she and Mr Myrtle can be safely homed, she will be able to continue making more of these much needed, delightful, thoughtful contributions to the world:
https://anncognitoartist.wixsite.com/anncognito
… ♥ …
EDIT September 2024 – Update from Ann:
Hello…
This started as a message to a friend who – understandably – is confused about what I’m looking for… I can imagine others are, too… I certainly am – well, my criteria are clear and my wishes have floor plans, but I haven’t the slightest idea how anything even vaguely resembling any of that might actually materialize
Basically, I’m looking for a home that doesn’t exist (but I’ll put a link below to my post with a lost of housing needs)… it’s frustrating, and every time I think I see a way out, I learn more and it isn’t
Rentals are usually freshly renovated, which means significant offgassing is happening and I can’t be there… some products, like laminate flooring and fibreglass, never finish offgassing… if not renovated, they have issues like mold and rot and fumigation and vile landlords… apartment buildings with entry through lobbies or halls mean that everyone else’s scented/chemical everything will waft into my place every time I open the door, so my own space will never be safe… plus I have to walk through trigger zones that make me sick every time I come or go… and that stuff adheres to animal fur… apartments in homes etc are either in basements or upper floors, rarely ground level (I can’t do stairs)… and I can’t share an abode, even MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) people have different triggers and tolerances and etc, and can rarely live together
I’ve been looking at mobile homes… from an MCS perspective, they’re worse than an apartment… they’re also far too big, and also involve more maintenance than I can do
So I started looking at campers… the old have one set of problems (previous peoples scented/chemical product accumulation, mold/mildew, etc)… new ones have another… mainly, they’re built and/or renovated largely with materials I won’t be able to live in… and they’re not built to handle winters, so they’re especially prone to mold etc in and because of winter… living full time all year in a camper built for three seasons at best is much like living on a small boat – not the purpose for which it’s designed, so there’s a lot of serious maintenance, which I can’t do
Of course I’d rather fix something up just right all by myself, and I still could’ve, maybe, slowly, before the assault… not now… I’m not being defeatist, I’m being objective and honest about my physical capabilities and increased chemical sensitivities
It also turns out there’s nowhere to legally live in an RV all year
So, I designed an 8×12 tiny house on wheels… I love it and it could be almost self sufficient… I’ve contacted a few builders, most cost far more than I can pay even if they do have a payment plan… or they aren’t interested in building for MCS needs… or they want to stick with their own designs, which don’t accommodate me, or charge a fortune for custom work… or they’re too far away… but I’m looking into things… it’d cost around 85000 to build, though – that’s not even remotely possible! My 6X9 vardo-esque version wouldn’t cost much less…
I’ll talk to my bank, but the idea of someone on a disability pension being granted a loan is frankly unimaginable… and disability support disallows possession of assets, so I’d either lose my support or be required to dispose of my ‘asset’ (no, it doesn’t matter that it would be my home and that not having it costs the system and my health far more than having it would)
So both designs have been filed under “Dream Home’ in a corner of my head, and I’ll share them on my Facebook page in case anyone wants to use them, or just likes looking at those sorts of things
There’s plenty of prefabs out there (even on Amazon), but the reason they’re so financially affordable is because their cost is paid in terms health… cheap materials entail petroleum products and other chemicals which aren’t particularly healthy for anyone and will make me terribly sick
Where to put any kind of tiny home is another kettle of fish anyways
Tiny houses without wheels aren’t illegal, but most of the options for where to put them are… so there’s repurposed garages in urban cores, or places too remote because I don’t drive… I can’t even remotely afford land, and I don’t know anyone with property where I could put one
Tiny house communities are either pricey investments, intentional communities requiring much labour I can’t do as well as a lengthy acceptance process, or they’re too remote, or more often than not – they’re idealistic projects that haven’t become reality yet, or they’re scams
With or without wheels, tiny homes don’t quite fit the criteria for mobile home parks… they’d really rather have actual park model trailer homes and – in my experience so far – seem distinctly less than enthused by the idea of a tiny house
With wheels, a tiny house is legally considered to be an RV, so as with regular campers, you’re not allowed to live in them (yes of course oodles of people do, but they can drive and stay under the radar)… also as with campers, RV parks are not allowed to stay open all year, and don’t seem any more enthused about house-like tiny homes than the mobile home parks are about the non-park-model homes
So it can either be a permanent structure, which I can’t afford, am not allowed to own, and for which I have no location… or it can be a miniature RV-shaped thing with everything necessary to actually live in (including a lot of hope about winter alternatives), while being small enough and weird enough not to be considered an asset, especially if it’s not a commercially-produced contraption
People who live in RVs part of the year either go back to their regular homes in the matrix when it gets cold, or they go into stealth mode, or they stay in off-season motels… there’s more people doing this than there is RV sites or motels, and I can’t drive so I can’t do what’s necessary for the stealth option – hoboing and constantly shifting around places including Walmart parking lots… so my home would need to be as small and easily movable as absolutely possible, if I’m even going to try that…
maybe eventually I can even get some kind of electric license-not-required trike or quad, and have it souped up to tow, but that’s a pipe dream… meanwhile – yes, I made a 5’x8’ teardrop design, and am waiting to find out about approximate cost to build
It’s less than half the size of my original design, but probably still as far out of my reach… I can give up, or I can keep trying everything and maybe between that, and my fundraiser (link below), and a builder open to a very long term payment plan, and the universe will all come together
So yeah, I’m looking for a home that doesn’t exist, with a budget that doesn’t exist… I keep looking at all the possibilities, because maybe if I turn over all the stones – every single one – I’ll find a shell to live in
And meanwhile, Mr Myrtle Sir and I are going to be in an off-season motel til the middle of May…
I’ll still be occupied full-time looking for an apartment, as well as trying to work out a long term solution
I’m pretty sure the only things potentially more frustrating than living this tangled quest would be watching it and trying to help… there aren’t enough thank yous in the world
Anyways, links below… and a snorffly puppy who says he’ll be happy anywhere we’re safe and healthy
Hugs also attached, lots of hugs… and lots of gratitude
Ann
Seriously "Sensitive" to Pollution 
I wish I had more to offer other than encouragement and prayers! Best of luck!
Encouragement and prayers are appreciated too! Thank you!
Ann has had to move to plan B (or P, Q,R, S, or T) and needs our help.
If you can’t contribute, can you please share and ask your friends and aquaintances?
https://www.gofundme.com/f/disabled-activistwriterhuman-needs-a-safe-micro-home-so-i
Post was updated September 18th, 2024 with a message from Ann.
My comment:
There are no Catch 22s with MCS/ES and housing.
They are Catch 99s…