Single mom in Kamloops separated from babies for lack of affordable housing
A single mother in Kamloops put her toddlers in temporary foster care this past month while she lived at a shelter, unable to find affordable housing for them all.
Tyreana Swinford is on a fixed income, and after searching for affordable housing for months without success was forced to live apart from her 1 and 3-year-old daughters and “visit” them during the days.
“It’s been extremely difficult, I cried every day the first two weeks,” she said. “I felt feelings of selfishness and guilt but at the end of the day knew I’d made the right decision for the happiness and safety of my children and for my well-being.”
Swinford put herself on the BC Housing List to help find a placement and informed local helping agencies of her situation. Her half-sister Nikki Milenk has been advocating for her, helping to search and “applying for any and all available supports.”
“It’s become so incredibly exhausting,” Milenk said. “I’m not seeing housing women and children as a top priority in this city. I believe it takes a community to raise a child and this story is appalling, that a mom had to surrender her children willingly because of absolutely no housing.”
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A couple of years ago Swinford left a relationship with the children’s dad and stayed at her mom’s place but it didn’t work out.
“Her mom has health issues and it isn’t a safe place,” Milenk said.
Swinford spent some nights on Milenk’s couch, but Milenk lives in a small house with her family of five and doesn’t have room for all of them. She then reached out to the Ministry of Children and Family Development for help and the children were placed with a foster mother, while she found temporary housing at the women’s YMCA.
Milenk said the kids are doing well and have a “wonderful lady” as a foster mom. Swinford is able to meet them and take them places whenever she can.
“It’s still really hard on the kids,” Milenk said. “You shouldn’t have to lose your kids because of no housing. She handed them over instead of dragging them from house to house. She’s trying to stay strong for her two babies.”
The sisters went to viewings for housing but everywhere they looked cost too much and there were lineups of others applying. Swinford gets roughly $1,800 per month for income assistance and said she doesn’t receive child support.
“There is contact with the dad but no child support,” she said.
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The shelter Swinford was living at closed for renovations on Saturday, April 15, leaving her couch surfing.
Just days ago, Swinford got the news she’s been waiting for from the non-profit organization A Way Home, which provides housing and support services to those at risk of homelessness.
“They found me a two-bedroom apartment for June for $900,” she said. “So I’m hopeful for that and to get my girls back.”
Milenk’s own lease is coming up this fall and she fears her family of five might face the same fate.
“It is just one story but I’m also speaking out for others, including seniors who are on the brink of homeless because of no affordable rentals. This has to stop. There has to be some changes made here.”
According to the January 26 Market Rental report by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, rental affordability continues to be a challenge across the country. There is a lack of affordable rental housing, especially for the lowest 20% of income earners.
The report cites higher migration, increased homeownership and students returning to on-campus learning drove increased demand for rental housing in 2022. Demand for rental housing outpaced the increase in supply, leading to a lower national vacancy rate compared to the year before.
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According to data from September, 2019, rental vacancy rates have been below 2% in Kamloops and the Okanagan for many years.
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