A young Vernon woman and her family are facing homelessness as they desperately search for housing following an alleged renoviction.
Corrina Bowers is 22, and will take guardianship of her younger sister when her terminally ill mother passes – which could be in a matter of weeks. Her mom, Robin Lessard, is living on borrowed time having already lived nearly four months longer than doctors originally thought she would.
The family has lived in its current home for ten years and needs to find a new rental before Jan. 31.
Bowers is unable to work and had to stop taking classes at the college to take care of her mom full time.
“I don't sleep a lot anymore. I haven't slept properly in months. Usually, I wake up, I check on my mom, I get her a boost – because she really just doesn't have an appetite anymore – I get her situated, I take my meds, I eat, and then I pretty much pack until it's dark,” said Bowers.
“Never in my life did I think that I would be planning a funeral at the same time as I'm looking for a place to live.”
Bowers plans to go back to school when she’s able, her goal is to be a forensic scientist. For now, she’s focused on managing her mom’s end of life and finding a home before the end of the month.
No affordable housing
They originally had to be out of their house by Sept. 30 in what the family called a renoviction. They took the case to the Rental Tenancy Board and were granted an extension to find somewhere to live, though the search hasn’t been successful.
“There's a good possibility that we would end up on the streets. Monthly hotel rates are really expensive. That was our plan,” said Bowers. “More than likely, we’ll probably sleep in the car, which is also not great because it doesn't have heat.”
Candice Berry, regional manager of community programs with Turning Points, said the housing program has a great relationship with landlords in town, but there’s still a lack of affordable family housing.
“It's very hard to make ends meet on how much the rental market is right now,” said Berry. “I think this is really a shout out to individuals, whether it's homeowners or whether it's companies…that may have some space that would fit or benefit this family they can definitely reach out to our housing team.”
“We can do our very best to put the two together to hopefully house this family by the end of the month.”
Turning Points is able to provide a rent subsidy to Bowers and her family, but it won’t be enough to cover the entire rent. Turning Points only gets a certain amount of funding and programs fill up quickly.
Costs piling up
Bowers and her family have been paying $1,005 per month for their three-bedroom apartment.
According to the CMHC, the average rent for a three-bedroom apartment in Vernon is $1,740 and a two-bedroom unit is $1,522.
A search on RentFaster shows Vernon two-bedroom rentals going for much higher at about $2,000-plus a month. The single three-bedroom apartment is listed at $2,390.
Part of the problem, Bowers and her sister have three cats they don’t want to part with. Already losing their mother, Bowers said losing their cats would crush her and her sister.
On top of the search for housing, costs to move and clean a home are adding up. The family has purchased a small storage unit and plans to get rid of the rest of their possessions. The cost to buy a garbage bin and dump fees are worrying Bowers.
A GoFundMe has been launched to cover the storage unit and go towards some of a hotel fee. As of Thursday evening, it’s raised $75 – it can be found online here.
Anyone who could help the family find housing can reach out to Turning Points at 250-542-3555 or [email protected] and reference Corrina Bowers.