Syrian family finds home with a little luck

After arriving just two weeks ago, a Syrian refugee family is overjoyed to be moving in to a new home in Vancouver — an apartment they were able to secure with a little bit of luck.

The False Creek South Neighbourhood Association was holding the apartment near Granville Island for a privately sponsored refugee family.

The group, however, had been told it would be up to one year before the paperwork for that family would go through and the apartment — which was sitting empty until yesterday — was costing them $1,000 a month.

Meanwhile, Salma and Rami Shaker and their two-year-old daughter Lilyan were stuck in temporary accommodation while officials struggled to find a home for them in Vancouver's tight rental market.

So the association decided to offer the apartment to the Shakers. Yesterday — after three long years without a home in a refugee camp — the family moved into their new apartment.

"Now we feel — like not when we come new, we feel alone like — but now good," said Salma Shaker.

FCSNA spokeswoman Kathleen McKinnon says the family was grateful for the new home, which they will get for a reduced rent while they settle into their new life in Vancouver.

"They just were overwhelmed, they were just like, 'Oh my gosh,' to move into a two bedroom apartment in a nice building in a beautiful community," said McKinnon.

The immigrant services group ISSofBC says there are 64 other government-assisted refugees still looking for permanent housing in Metro Vancouver.

With files from Bal Brach