When the rent went up, this London, Ont., couple thought a camper would be temporary. It's not

Kim Springer and her family never thought they'd be living in a camper in a gravel parking lot adjacent to a park in east London, Ont.

Now the Springers — Kim, her husband and their grandson — are using their predicament to outline the difficulties connected to hidden homelessness and a lack of municipal support, as well as the options.

They moved to a trailer after facing a big rent increase on the home that they had been living in for many years. 

"The city could come tomorrow and say we need to tow this out of here. Where would they tow it? I have no idea," said Kim. "We would have to go with the trailer. We don't have anywhere else to go."

The trailer is currently set up in McMahen Park. The City of London's Parks and Recreation Area bylaw states that unless authorized by the deputy city manager, erecting tents or shelters, or parking trailers for overnight accommodation is disallowed in park areas.

Recent estimates from the city put the number of unhoused people at 1,868 as of October — double the rate two years ago, when some 966 people were believed to be homeless in 2020.

While the federal government estimates 235,000 Canadians a year are homeless, researchers with the Homelessness Counts project figure the numbers are much worse because Ottawa's figures are based on figures from front-line agencies.

A spokesperson for the City of London told CBC News that it's doing what it can to help the Springer family.

"The City of London co-ordinated informed response, and co-ordinated access teams are engaging with the family and exploring all options to support them," said Craig Cooper, director of housing and stability services.

"The city wants to ensure every individual and family experiencing or at risk of experiencing homeless gets the right support at the right time."

The Springers told CBC that they had rented a home for 15 years before new owners raised the rent last summer. At the time, Kim was retiring with a pension that was too small to cover the cost. 

"We put all of our resources together and bought our trailer. We thought we'd go to a campground until the fall and figure out what to do next," she said.

But the campgrounds, the family said, wouldn't accept their 31-year-old fifth wheel, saying it was too old, and they had to move from the mobile home communities.

For help, the Springers turned to a former neighbour, who allowed them to park the camper on their driveway. Soon after, bylaw officials with the City of London came to give notice they had to leave.