Situation: older mother is set to receive a lump sum payment of 30k. Her only other income is OAS, gis (full amount), a paltry CPP, and some remittances from me (started about a year ago). How should she allocate the lump sum to minimize clawbacks to her GIS?

As she has been forced to live a frugal retirement, I would prefer for her to use the funds to upgrade her apartment for the next 5-7 years. I wager she will live for another 20 (conservatively, not healthy). After the 5-7 years I will hopefully have enough accumulated assets to be able to maintain her living standards and, if not, at least she’ll have had 5-7 years living in a nice home.

Edit: I am not proposing she go homeless after 5-7 years if I can’t bankroll a better living. Rather I expect she would go back to her current lifestyle which is not great but at least she has a small apartment and can afford essentials.