With a group of 7,000 dog lovers in his corner, man living in Pippy Park lands an apartment
CBC
It took hundreds of messages to landlords, a groundswell of support from a community of dog lovers, and stints in the Gathering Place, a hotel, and multiple campsites.
But after searching since last December, Tremaine "Trey" Clarke and his trusty dog, Buddy, have finally landed a new apartment.
"My god, I've got my keys," Clarke said. "Now I've got some stability."
Clarke said he was ecstatic when he heard the news this week.
"I was jumping up and down—I felt like John Travolta, dancing all over the place," said Clarke. "It's been so long waiting for this."
Since May, Clarke had been living in a tent at the Pippy Park campground in St. John's. And he isn't the only person experiencing housing precariousness who's taken up residence in the park. CBC News is aware of three other individuals staying at the campground while either searching for a place to rent, or while waiting for a rental to become available.
But since camping at Pippy Park costs about as much as renting an apartment, the campground is an unlikely site for a future tent city. Clarke said his semi-serviced lot, which includes shower access and electricity, costs $995 a month.
And the main reason Clarke was able to pay those fees, tend to Buddy's needs and ultimately find an apartment?
The collective kindness of about 7,000 dog lovers in the "Snowdogs of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada" Facebook group — especially the kindness of that group's founder and moderator, Heather Gordon.
"I'm always checking in on him because I keep calling Trey my adopted nephew," Gordon said.
Clarke, in turn, calls Gordon his guardian angel.
The two met last fall, when the Snowdogs group began helping Clarke cover vet bills and medications for Buddy. Clarke said he'd recently suffered a workplace accident, and he'd started searching for apartments while staying at the Gathering Place shelter.
But Clarke found life at the Gathering Place challenging, especially due to alleged drug use by the shelter's clients.
"With the highs and lows of everybody in there, it was kind of difficult," said Clarke.
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