Families face 'hidden homelessness' as Hamilton shelter system is consistently overwhelmed

An accident at work changed everything for Mark Wakiri. 

"November 14th last year I got into an accident which broke my neck and I went under surgery. My C7, C6 [vertebrae] broke," he said. Wakiri was working as a long haul trucker.

A Canadian citizen for over 20 years, Wakiri, 41, said he returned to Uganda frequently, where he met his wife and had children.

While he wasn't able to work, he said he had an opportunity to bring his children to Canada, so they could attend school, while his wife waits to get her visa to join them. 

But he had been renting a room in a house, and with his children joining him, he needed to move — but finding a place big enough has been a challenge, especially while he is still healing, he said. 

Now the father of five is living with his children in Hamilton's shelter system. All six family members sleep in two bunk beds in a one-bedroom unit while Wakiri looks for housing. 

"I'm trying to find a place which can accommodate us all." 

It takes an average of 136 days for families to find housing

But with the city's family shelter system consistently overwhelmed, Wakiri and his children are part of the lucky few that secure a room at the shelter at all. 

Currently, Hamilton only has 62 total rooms to accommodate families. 

Grace Baldwin, director of the Good Shepherd's Family Centre in Hamilton, says the family centre has 20 of those rooms, which can hold 20 families or around 120 people. 

Hamilton's family shelters have been consistently over capacity since April 2022, according to city data, including overflow hotel rooms for families.

And turnover for rooms is slow. 

Baldwin said it takes an average of 136 days before families can leave the shelter. 

Families experiencing homelessness 'not as visible'

Families experiencing homeless are often forgotten about in discussions about housing, Baldwin said. 

"Family homelessness is often hidden homelessness. It's not as visible. It's not families on the street corner or families staying in tents, because that wouldn't work for families with children," she said. 

Oftentimes, if families are unable to access a room in a shelter or an overflow hotel room, they end up couch surfing with friends and family, Baldwin said, and sometimes this means leaving the community altogether. 

"The children are displaced from their homes, maybe they have to move schools multiple times — it's just really difficult for them."

And finding housing with children presents its own challenges, she said, because, "a lot of families experience discrimination from landlords." 

She said landlords may reject family applications based on their family size, their income or their credit score. Or they may pass on tenants because there are other applicants who seem more appealing, she said. 

"There is a lot of competition for available rental units here in Hamilton. Families are submitting applications along with 10 or 20 other households for one unit," she said. 

"Landlords can pick and choose who they want to rent to."

CityHousing backlog 

Many of the families who use the shelter system are low income, Baldwin said, or they receive social assistance or are precariously employed, which makes it difficult for them to pay market rent prices. 

The city's most recent available data from 2022 shows there are about 6,110 households waiting to access CityHousing units.

Wakiri and his children are one of those households. 

"I applied for CityHousing and they do the process. They have a backlog. There is a lot of people applied to them," Wakiri said. 

In the meantime, Wakiri says living in the shelter with his children, who are aged 14, 12, seven, five and three, has been "challenging" and "cramped." 

"I think sometimes we forget that there's a true need here for families and we have to think about the children that are experiencing homelessness," Baldwin said.