Tough rental market

As most are aware there is a shortage of rentals in Kelowna and area, we now find ourselves among the many families in search of a house within our tiny budget. We had our rental house last summer torn down and our family of eight scrambling to find housing. We ended up finding a place and it seemed like a dream come true after several months of tirelessly searching and told by the landlord not to worry as he was renting to us very long term. 

To our dismay a year later we received the dreaded letter of two month end of tenancy for landlord use (the landlord already lives in a large very nice home) and told us too bad but we want the home back.(my husband just went through heart surgery and is still weak from it.) All I can remember is throwing up from the stress of having to move again when there is nowhere to move to. We are in complete distress and fear being homeless as all house rentals for our size of family are $2800/month and up. We like many others cannot afford these outrageous prices that landlords are charging, and cannot find anything for $2100/month and under. 

We have learned landlords use the two month notice for landlord use way too often, a lot of the time the landlord has no intention of moving in and wants the tenant out to up the rent then continues this same pattern year after year. There is no stiff penalty for this very wrong and fraudulant way of kicking a tenant out. The only penalty dealt to the landlord is the tenant receives two months worth of rent. (pocket change to most landlords) The tenant has to go through hell to prove to B.C. tenancy that the landlord never moved in and they had intent to commit a fraudulant act. 

Right now we are going through hell trying to find a suitable and affordable house for my six children, us and our pets. I have been packing every second of the day when I am not on the computer searching untill 2am or so on kijiji, Castanet and Craiglist rentals. No luck finding a house for eight people and pets for under $2100/month so I have been doing the same thing every day for a month. As a mom I am worried sick and crying often, I can barely eat due to the stress of having no place to move and becoming homeless soon. My kids deserve to be housed and Kelowna city counsel and the Mayor need to do something to stop landlords from charging $3000/month or more for average houses that people cannot afford. 

I am writing this because I want people to know that homelessness can happen to anyone. It's not right that my family can get thrown out on the street by a landlord and it's not our fault that we cannot afford the housing prices. We will have no where to live soon and we have no extended family or others that will help at all. Where are lower income families supposed to go for help when they have nothing to move into? Places like habitat for humanity, society of hope and now Canada have refused us as we are not homeless enough and are too large of a family. 

I challenge anyone to try walking a day in my shoes looking for a house to rent on a small income and to try to find a descent house when you cannot find one anywhere it seems. Pets also are never allowed and that is wrong. We are a large family that fell through the cracks and was turned away by everyone for being low income and not fitting into Kelowna's elite society. Churches have also turned us away and said to ask family but we have no extended family that will help out as some of us come from not so normal families.

I hope someone out there benefits from reading this. We want people to know what its like to live like this and what it does to a person to live scared of being thrown on the streets with kids because yes landlords will and can do that to families as tenants have no rights it seems. 

Heather Kambeitz