Peggy Dixer and Dee Fenton say they are being discriminated against in their search for housing in the Midland area because they live on social assistance.
They say they have applied to more than 120 apartment listings since May, but have yet to find a place to live.
“Landlords are great to talk to, but as soon as you mention ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program) or CPP (Canada Pension Plan), they disappear from the conversation,” said Fenton. “We have guaranteed income. We have great references.”
They said they could pay $1,500 to $1,800 a month.
“The ones that we find, they don’t want to rent to ODSP,” Fenton said. “It’s definitely a barrier.”
Fenton, 48, showed a reporter a text message she received from a private landlord that read: “I prefer someone who works.”
The two single women would like an apartment together, as neither of them can afford a place on their own. Dixer helps look after Fenton, who has health problems, and they also each have a small dog.
They say they have applied to apartment buildings managed by a private company, but were told they don’t meet the criteria. The company wants them to prove a good credit rating and proof of income far beyond the $1,275 a month they each receive from ODSP and CPP.
“We are on ODSP and CPP. We don’t have good credit, but we don’t have bad credit, either,” said Dixer, who grew up in Port McNicoll. “It’s awful. If you don’t have a good credit score or rating, they don’t want you.”
Fenton added: “But that doesn’t mean I don’t pay my rent. My rent has always been paid because I need a roof over my head.”
They say they have applied all over Simcoe County and beyond.
“We want a place. We will go anywhere,” said Dixer, 57.
The women are living in a camping trailer on private property in Lafontaine, a village in Tiny Township located about 20 minutes west of Midland, but they need to have a proper place in a town. They say it costs about $50, round trip, to go to Midland.
“We need somebody to go in there and say, ‘These people do pay their rent.’ We need an advocate that will speak for us because they aren’t listening to us,” said Dixer.
Fenton said being single is also a barrier.
“We will always be looked over for someone who has children,” she said.
Fenton said she went through Empower Simcoe, but it hasn’t resulted in them getting an apartment. She’s been on the list for subsidized housing for two years, but was recently told by staff at the County of Simcoe that the wait-list was another 10 years.
Dixer is in contact with Shelter Now, which offers transitional housing in Midland. They expect to have a meeting.
The women met at The Guesthouse Shelter in Midland two years ago and teamed up to help one another. Last April, they got an apartment in Lafontaine, but say they were evicted July 1 due to the home possibly going into foreclosure.
Dixer said the homeowners were verbally abusive to them after asking them to leave in May.
“I was crying every day,” she said.
Fenton has no family and says she grew up in the foster-care system. She struck out on her own at the age of 12, finding work. Originally from Alberta, she moved to Toronto 18 years ago. She got a job as a call-centre manager in Scarborough. When the pandemic hit, she moved to a friend’s house in Honey Harbour, in nearby Tay Township on the other side of Midland, and worked from home.
One day, she says she fell through a rotten deck, which caused a serious injury to her right leg. She was at Georgian Bay General Hospital in Midland for five months and had four surgeries. Her wound became infected and she developed blood clots in one arm. In the hospital, she found out she was diabetic.
While she was hospitalized, she says her friend evicted her.
“I had nowhere to go. I didn’t know anybody,” she said.
When she was released from the hospital, she went to the The Guesthouse Shelter. Due to the pandemic, she was put up in a local motel and she had nurses come to change the dressings and IV bags.
Fenton cannot go back to The Guesthouse Shelter because the space is not yet accessible and she can’t climb stairs to the top floor, where the beds are located.
Before the accident, she worked for all of her adult life. She never collected Employment Insurance (EI).
“So, this whole situation is new to me. I have a hard time doing things and I get frustrated. I’m used to doing everything on my own,” she said.
Dixer said she doesn’t find the community supportive, either.
“I am disappointed in this whole area. They don’t help you. They don’t want to help you,” she said.
