Hamilton grandparents, mom, children squeezed into homelessness

With no place to call home since August, it has been a long, trying haul.

But Carla Fakes hopes the ordeal will be a foggy memory - if at all - for her grandchildren.

They're young enough that hopefully they're never going to remember that this ever happened."

Alex, 4, and Katherine, 2, have toys scattered across the living room floor of the Good Shepherd family shelter unit.

They're giggling and bouncing around after getting out for some crisp spring air by the playground in the building's courtyard.

On April 1, the youngsters, their mother and grandparents will move into an apartment Good Shepherd has helped secure for them.

I'm happy we'll be able to go somewhere and say we're going home," mom Elise Boulet says. I'm taking the kids home, not just saying, We're taking them back to the shelter.'"

The two-bedroom unit in northeast Hamilton will be a tighter fit than their last, more spacious two-bedroom apartment just south of downtown, but also about $100 cheaper at $1,450 a month.

Unfortunately, because of how much rent has increased, we're not able to afford a three-bedroom," Fakes says.

The family of five is one of many losing their homes amid economic pressures that have come with the COVID-19 pandemic, Good Shepherd says.

It's not suggested to me that this is just a moment in time," says Katherine Kalinowski, chief operating officer in Hamilton. In fact, we have a significant wave of new homelessness emerging in our communities where families are concerned."

People have lost jobs and struggled to keep up with rental payments. In other cases, landlords have forced longtime tenants out to renovate units or sell properties, Kalinowski notes.

And the reality is when they are evicted, or they lose the housing they're in, in the current market, the ability for them to find affordable housing is negligible."

There is no rent control between tenancies in Ontario, which means landlords can jack rates as much as the market will fetch upon turnover. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Hamilton is $1,940, according to Rentals.ca.

Amid these conditions, Good Shepherd's 105-bed family shelter on Wentworth Street South has been bursting at the seams, Kalinowski says, and so has its 44-space violence-against-women shelter, which also takes in children.

And while city-booked hotel rooms have served as a buffer, that overflow space is no longer available for families, the city says, adding desperation to an already alarming problem.

Staff have worked diligently to secure as many hotel rooms as possible in order to meet demand, however staff have exhausted all options available," Edward John, the city's director of housing services, told The Spectator.

Alongside a spike in demand for shelter space, hotels are booking conferences and social events amid the easing of pandemic restrictions.

Housing services made the difficult decision to cease additional family hotel placements as hotel space cannot be secured for additional families not already in the system," John wrote in an email.

Staff are working closely with agency partners to support families as best as possible and will continue to seek additional hotel space."

Good Shepherd does its best to explore every option possible," Kalinowski said. That might include looking at shelters outside of the City of Hamilton."

Staff are very creative" when it comes to helping families find alternatives, she said, but acknowledged we sometimes literally don't have an option that we can offer them."

Boulet, Fakes, her partner Rob Derksen and the children initially landed at the downtown Sheraton for about two months when they lost their apartment last August.

It was the pandemic and we were behind on rent," said Fakes, 45, who said the arrears were about $2,000. The landlord claimed a considerably higher amount, she said.

Derksen, 47, didn't lose his job in the auto-parts industry, but his hours became spottier, she said.

We've been able to support ourselves, and honestly, we were looking to catch up with our rent within a couple of months because his work was coming in steady."

But time passed and they heard nothing from the landlord until a sheriff showed up to tell them they had five days to clear out, she said.

Fakes said the family learned the official paperwork had been taken from their mailbox.

It was awful," said Boulet, 25, who receives Ontario Works. I didn't feel like I knew what to do."

With the shelter full, the city booked them into two rooms at the Sheraton on King Street West, where they grew accustomed to microwaving meals for the children.

We had to celebrate the littlest one's birthday while we were in the hotel," Fakes recalled.

Boulet says her kids are doing better at the Good Shepherd shelter, where there is more space to play and everyone can be together.

Outside in the courtyard, Alex and Katherine put their chalk, balls and plastic dinosaurs into a bag before mom and grandmother grab their hands and head back inside with the promise of cupcakes.

Fakes tells the little ones to wash their hands first. She is a picture of calm in the face of the chaos.

Nonetheless, the toll of the past several months and concerns about reports of crime at their future building overwhelm her - if only for a fleeting moment.

It's frustrating. It's disheartening. I'm at my wits' end and I don't know what to do," says Fakes, her voice quavering and tears welling. I feel like a failure to them."

But she adds: They haven't done anything to deserve this, and in my opinion, we haven't done anything to deserve this."

Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com