Seniors’ rights advocate honoured by city

Ottawa for 50 years, leaving a path paved with improved community care centres and affordable housing complexes in her wake.

On Nov. 26, Mayor Jim Watson presented Burrows with the Mayor’s City Builder Award, recognizing the 78-year-old’s continued effort to make Ottawa better for seniors, particularly women and the homeless. 

In one Centretown-based project, Burrows led a team that raised more than $2.4 million to help Cornerstone create a residential complex on Booth Street for 42 women transitioning to permanent housing.

“In 2004, we really started to look intensely at the needs of seniors at Cornerstone, which had not been a focus in the past,” says Burrows. “Some of the buildings Cornerstone had at the time were not fully accessible to people with physical disabilities.”

There are currently 20 seniors living in the house at 314 Booth Street. There are staff members at the house 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide tenants help with small tasks, such as doing laundry. 

“These are women who have experienced homelessness and have mental health issues,” says Burrows.

Burrows has dedicated the past 20 years of her life to working on affordable housing projects. She says that housing is the key to helping seniors. 

“When someone has a place to call home, no matter who they are, they can grow and flourish, and then they can start to work on their other issues,” says Burrows. 

“There are some seniors who cannot afford to go to a retirement home, so they struggle to find affordable, safe places to live.” 

Burrows says the largest barrier to developing more affordable housing in Ottawa is the lack of funding. She says the municipal government is trying to help, but its budget is limited.
“We are working on coming up with innovative ways as a united community to do the financing and to work together to develop the kind of housing seniors need,” says Burrows. 

Sue Garvey, the director of Cornerstone, says there are 10,000 households, seniors included, on the waitlist for affordable housing in Ottawa.

“The amount of affordable housing that is created every year does not even come close to matching the need,” says Garvey. 

Garvey says Burrows was one of the driving forces who helped Cornerstone change its focus from homeless shelters to long-term affordable housing. She says Burrows has dedicated her life to trying to solve some of Ottawa’s biggest problems. 

“People with disabilities, women, seniors, the homeless… wherever the needs have been, she has been involved,” says Garvey. 

For that reason, Garvey was not surprised to hear that Burrows had been presented with the Mayor’s City Builder Award.

“There could not be a better person to win this award,” says Garvey. “She is someone who has always tried to make this a better community for all the groups that are more vulnerable than the rest of us.”

Margaret Hollett, manager of the City of Ottawa’s housing services branch, says Burrows has made a lasting impact on everyone she has worked with over the last 50 years.

“Every person I have spoken to that knows Carol sings her praises,” says Hollett. “She is a remarkable woman.”