Evicted Summerside woman plans to live in camper with her 2 children

A P.E.I. mother of two who will be homeless as of Friday is blaming a lack of support and resources in the Summerside area — and the skyrocketing cost of rental housing.

Ashley Bridges was told she had to vacate her house because her landlord needed it for a relative. So far, she has had no luck in her hunt for another affordable place to live in Summerside.

Bridges has been working full-time hours at a local dairy bar, but the job is seasonal. She is receiving income support to make ends meet.

Now she said she and her two children will have to live in a camper for the summer.

Having no wish to stay at a shelter with her children, she has tried calling low-income housing organizations for help. With no luck there, Bridges said she feels like she's been thrown to the wolves.

"It's very nerve-wracking. I don't know if I'm going to be able to put food on the table for my kids. I don't know if I'm going to be able to live on a day-to-day basis," she said. 

"Buying them clothes right now is very… I can't because I don't have the money to do it. It's very stressful, trying to keep them going and trying to keep them happy and trying to keep us all happy as a family."

Bridges paid $1,100 per month for rent at her current residence, but can't find anything remotely close to that price range, she said.

"Now it's $2,000 or $3,000 to live in a place and that's without heat and lights," she said.

Bridges did attempt to appeal her eviction notice under the Residential Tenancy Act, but said she missed a teleconference with the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission because she was dealing with the death of someone close to her. 

IRAC told CBC News in an email this week that an appeal is automatically dismissed if someone doesn't show up in person on a specified date or dial into the commission's scheduled teleconference hearing. 

"If given advance notice that a party cannot attend a scheduled hearing (i.e., illness, appointment, or tragedy), the Rental Office will accommodate and will adjourn the matter," the email said. Otherwise, it said: "The appellant has the responsibility to appear at their own appeal."

Cory Pater is a member of the P.E.I. Fight For Affordable Housing. He said situations like the one Bridges finds herself in are referred to as "no-fault evictions," where tenants are shown the door despite having done nothing wrong.

"It's displacing people into a market that's really not friendly to be in," he said. "It's hard to find a place, let alone a place that's within your means."