On eve of eviction, woman feels shame she can't find affordable place to live

Mindy Lee Hamilton has called everyone she could. She applied to every employer she could. She sought every means financial assistance she could.

But after years of struggle, Hamilton is about to be evicted from her two-bedroom apartment in Fredericton, and the 38-year-old doesn't know where she's going to go.

"I've lived in this location for seven years," Hamilton told CBC News. "I've been a good tenant, and I've paid on time, kept my apartment clean, never caused trouble.

"But in the past few years, I've had more mental health struggles, and I've had to declare bankruptcy. I've lost hours at my workplace."

Finding affordable housing in Fredericton has been a mountain she hasn't been able to climb, and she's not alone. Advocates say the shortage is bordering a "crisis."

Having less money limits her options, her mental illness makes it tough to live with a roommate, her boyfriend suddenly left and her medication costs about $125 a month. Her situation has snowballed.

She has a line on a possible roommate after posting an ad to online classifieds, and is praying it will work out. 

"It's kind of a vicious cycle," Hamilton said.

"Sort of between mental health issues and trying to work to have money and survive, and I haven't been able to, in 10 years of living here, find something that would be able to sustain me with the prices that are here in Fredericton."

Rents on the rise

Working six to 10 hours a week these days, Hamilton said she makes less than what she would be eligible for on social assistance.

And even if she was approved for social assistance, a monthly payment wouldn't cover rent for the average Fredericton bachelor apartment, she said. Hamilton said most rentals start around $650 per month.

According to the Community Action Group on Homelessness, the average rent for a two-bedroom unit climbed from $809 per month in 2014 to $860 in 2017, while social assistance remained unchanged at $537.

In seven years, Hamilton's rent has gone from around $700 to more than $900. Since declaring bankruptcy in August, she has received six eviction notices but has managed to come up with rent.

Now, she's fallen too far behind and been ordered to vacate at the end of the month. The stress of becoming homeless has been overwhelming.

"I'm basically losing my job, losing my home, because I can't make enough money to stay here," she said. "And every door that I knock on is just closed to my face. I just didn't expect that at 38 years old I would be in this position."

Affordable housing shortage

Advocates say there is a lack of affordable housing in Fredericton. Tent cities have sprung up, and two emergency shelters were established last year to help meet demand.

"It's hitting the point where we are entering a crisis," Shelby MacIntyre of the John Howard Society of Fredericton said in December. She said she was only able to place six people last fall.

Hamilton receives the society's list of housing options every week, and she applied for low-income housing two years ago, but it hasn't worked out yet and she's all but out of time.

The federal government is expected to soon start pumping millions into affordable housing, but advocates are still waiting to see a provincial strategy. The John Howard Society is building four affordable units, but MacIntyre said the city could use 100.

"The government system itself doesn't deal with crisis well," said Warren Maddox, executive director of Fredericton Homeless Shelters Inc.

"It's sort of a big machine that moves slowly, and it can deal with things, but it needs time to process and work through the different systems. So in terms of dealing with a crisis, it doesn't work well. I don't think it ever has."

'I feel guilt'

Maddox said finding affordable housing is "exceedingly difficult." He expects it to get worse for Hamilton before it gets better.

"I can be empathetic to the nth degree, and I am, but the hard reality is that her life is about to take a very serious change," he said. "And she'll be put through this awful process of "what will I get rid of, what do I need?"

That process has started for Hamilton. She hopes to hang onto the essentials, but everything else is being given or thrown away.

She could leave the city and move in with her parents, but she said that would distance her from her support system in Fredericton. Some friends have offered their couches or air mattresses.

"I'm grateful that I have people who are willing to even let me crash on the couch or in the home," Hamilton said.

"But I feel so much shame knowing that I have to put those people in that position. I feel shame for having mental illness. I feel guilt. It's a constant struggle to just stay positive."

Hamilton can apply to stay at the women's shelter, Maddox said, but only on the day of her eviction.