Essex woman living in a tent hopes to find housing before the holidays
Erica Gagnon, 40, has been homeless, living in a tent since July.
“This is about my fifteenth tent. I’ve been all through Windsor, Harrow, Kingsville, Leamington,” says Gagnon.
Gagnon was living in a trailer until it was sold by the owner. She then briefly lived in a car.
“It’s devastating. It’s embarrassing. People look down on you,” says Gagnon. “They expect you to go back to the cracks where you came from. It destroys you, but you have to stay strong.”
“We have to do something, immediately. We cannot let Erica stay out here another night,” says homeless advocate Dave Mota.
After hearing about Gagnon’s situation, one that exemplifies a larger issue, Mota has been trying to help.
“When I actually looked into housing for her, there’s nothing available out here in Essex County as far as emergency shelters. There’s no affordable housing for Erica at all,” says Mota.
“I’m a county girl so to go to the city is difficult for me and I can’t cope with people that are there. It would be nice to have something in the county,” says Gagnon.
Gagnon receives money each month from Ontario Works, but says it’s not enough to survive.
“I have about 300 bucks from welfare for basic needs. Other than that, that’s about it. I depend on food banks and people’s contributions,” says Gagnon.
With homelessness on the rise in Windsor-Essex, Mota is calling for more affordable housing.
“It’s become increasingly worse with homelessness and it all has to do with affordable housing, geared-to-income housing, intervention, places for them to go to. Emergency shelters, there’s just not enough of it,” says Mota.
“I’m done camping,” says Gagnon. “No more extreme camping for me. I’m done. I need to be indoors.”
Especially as colder weather is upon us, Gagnon soon hopes for a place to call home.
“Housing before Christmas. I have family, I have kids and being in a tent, you can’t really have Christmas dinner in a tent,” she says. “So I’d like to be somewhere for the holidays.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Some structural damage' from wildfire near Fort Nelson, B.C., mayor confirms
More than one home has been damaged or lost due to a massive wildfire outside of the B.C. community of Fort Nelson, the mayor confirmed Wednesday.
'Very expensive lunch': Sask. driver says he got a cellphone ticket for using his points app in the drive-thru
A warning from a Saskatoon driver about using your fast-food app while in the drive-thru line — a trip to get some free lunch cost him a lot more than he bargained for.
B.C. YouTuber ordered to pay $350K for 'relentless' online defamation campaign
An 'unrepentant' YouTuber has been ordered to pay $350,000 in damages as compensation for a 'relentless' campaign of defamation waged online against a business owner and his company, the B.C. Supreme Court has ruled.
Chief says grave search at B.C. residential school brings things 'full circle'
Chief Robert Michell says relief isn't the right word to describe his reaction as the search begins for unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school he attended in northern British Columbia.
'Endless Shrimp' just one misstep for Red Lobster as it eyes bankruptcy protection
While it's unclear what these closures might mean for the 27 restaurants in Canada, Red Lobster is expected to file for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. this month.
B.C. man shot sex worker in the back during drug-fuelled birthday, court hears
A man from B.C.'s Lower Mainland has been sentenced to four years behind bars after shooting a sex worker in the back during a drug-fuelled 43rd birthday.
'Inhumane conditions': 68 dogs pulled from Winnipeg home
Nearly six dozen dogs were seized from a home Wednesday morning by the Winnipeg Humane Society. It is the largest known seizure of animals in the city’s history.
Ontario's 'Crypto King' Aiden Pleterski arrested
Of the $40-million Aiden Pleterski was handed over two years, documents show he invested just over one per cent and instead spent $15.9 million on "his personal lifestyle." The 25-year-old Oshawa, Ont. man was arrested and charged with fraud and money laundering on Tuesday.
Driver said he smoked pot oil, took medication before Florida crash that killed 8 Mexican workers
A man with a long record of dangerous driving told investigators he smoked marijuana oil and took prescription drugs hours before he sideswiped a bus, killing eight Mexican farmworkers and injuring dozens more, according to an arrest report unsealed Wednesday.