Disabled Kelowna tenant faces homelessness after tenancy branch sides with landlord

The issue of a broken door sent a man’s life into a spiral in Kelowna and now he may end up on the street.

Randy Millis is a wheelchair user who lives in a subsidized apartment in the Columbus Centre on Sutherland Avenue in a building operated by Columbian Centennial Housing Society.

In October 2025, Millis had a medical emergency and the fire department had to breach his door and take him to hospital. The problem of repairing the door has since turned into a legal feud that could end with Millis homeless by the weekend.

Millis said he had just tried to stand up for himself when the landlord was delayed fixing his front door, and now he’s looking at eviction.

“All I’ve been trying to do is assert my rights as a tenant,” he said. “I’m very seriously potentially going to be homeless in a very short time.”

The door was broken in October, and the society said a shipping delay prevented them from getting a new door until January. For several months Millis had a broken front door that couldn’t lock properly and his power bill spiked because it was leaking heat over the winter.

Millis took the issue of the broken door to the Residential Tenancy Branch because he felt that the landlord hadn’t given him proper notice for the repair contractor to enter his apartment to fix it.

After Millis went to the branch, the housing society wanted to end his tenancy, claiming that he wasn’t allowing the repair to happen and that was grounds for eviction. There were also some clerical issues with documents Millis was supposed to fill out and didn’t.

The branch ultimately found in favour of the landlord and said that Millis was being unreasonable, so it gave the society an order of possession which is going to force him out of his home, Friday, May 1.

“It’s just a huge amount of stress,” he said. “Maybe I’m a good example of why you shouldn’t stand up for your rights.”

This isn’t the first time Millis has argued with the building’s operator about maintenance issues.

There have been issues from plumbing to heating to parking, and he thinks the building wants a tenant that won’t pushback or complain.

“It just seems like, you know, I’m on subsidy so I should just be happy for what I have, which I am very grateful for. It’s a great building except for the management,” he said.

Since he’s on disability, getting about $1,500 a month, he said it’s hard to find anywhere to rent. He said homeless shelters won’t allow him to stay with his wheelchair, he can’t afford a hotel and he doesn’t have anywhere else to go.

“I’ve got absolutely nothing. I have a camping tent that I bought before I was injured, for summer camping when I had a vehicle, and I’m actually looking at that now thinking that that might be where I’m ending up,” he said.

Even though he’s in a difficult position he’s glad that he stood up for himself.

“I don’t know that I’ve got any regrets,” he said. “I’m also accepting there’s a possible reality that maybe I won’t be so happy that I stood up for my rights but at this moment I don’t know that I would do anything differently.”

iNFOnews.ca reached out to the Columbian Centennial Housing Society for comment but didn’t get an immediate response.