Sign away his son or be homeless: Single dad struggling in St. John's housing crisis
Time is running out for single father to find a place for him and his son
A St. John's man on the brink of homelessness is facing the possibility of losing his son due to a lack of housing options for people with kids.
Tristen Keats, who turns 27 this month, lives with his mother and his three-year-old son, Jacoby, in a small basement apartment that is advertised for only one person.
"Here we are now with people living on the side of the street in tents," Keats said. "Me and him are just about there now, right? We got a couple months."
They are running out of time, as his mother's landlord has given them a few months to find a new place.
He and his son are among the many people caught in the housing crisis that is sweeping across the country and hitting Newfoundland and Labrador. Social housing and emergency shelters are in high demand, leading many people to take the only home they've known for months — a tent — and station themselves in public spaces around St. John's.
And if facing homelessness is tough, when children are involved, the struggle can be worse.
According to Abbey Quinlan, the employment services lead at the Single Parent Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, the demand for their services, especially their food bank, is rapidly increasing.
"I think it's significantly, significantly impacting them," Quinlan said. "They're trying to do and provide the same amount of services and resources to their kids as two people sometimes are."
No foundation to rebuild a new life
Keats said he's come a long way in life, and his situation now threatens the progress he's made in his personal recovery.
"I was on drugs, drinking, you know, I didn't give my mother a very good life. I didn't have a very good life for myself because of myself," he said.
He became a father for the first time at 17, he said, but was far from ready for that responsibility. At 18, he was homeless.
When Jacoby was born three years ago, Keats said, he worked hard to sober up and take care of him full time.
"Before Jacoby, I didn't really care about anything. I didn't have a life. I just lived to exist. And now that I have Jacoby, I live for him," he said.
Keats said he has three options for housing: the private rental market, government housing and emergency shelters.
He said he's messaged countless landlords and applied to property management companies, but with no success. He said he often doesn't even get past an interview.
He believes the fact that he lives on income support makes it harder to compete.
The second option is to wait for a rental unit owned by the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation, but the government agency said its waiting list holds almost 1,000 people.
"I'm sitting here now waiting for the next three years, that's what they said. Well, I only have two or three months," Keats said.
A heartbreaking catch
The third option is an emergency shelter, but they are increasingly difficult to lock down and come with a heartbreaking catch: there's no place for Jacoby.
St. John's has emergency shelters for women and children experiencing domestic violence, but single parents facing homelessness have limited options. In some cases, to secure a bed in an emergency shelter, parents like Keats have to give up custody of their children.
"I don't think anybody should have the right to say that to somebody," Keats said. "You get to go home at the end of the day with a cheque, a house, your kids, whatever you want. And you don't have to worry about my problems anymore."
If his situation doesn't improve, Keats said he can see himself living in a tent, too, but he won't bring his son down with him.
"I don't care if it was me. I've done that before in my life. My worry is him. He can't sleep outside every day. I'll figure that out and I'll sleep outside. But it won't be him."
Keats's story hit the House of Assembly on Wednesday when Housing Minister Paul Pike said he empathizes with Keats but the government does offer some support.
"We provide funding for those who have issues getting rental properties, and this is in addition, by the way, to our own housing," he said.
However, that funding for a rental unit comes at a cost — being taken off the list for government housing, Keats said.
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