'Rent is just crazy right now': How a Niagara couple ended up in a tent

For the past 14 months, Thorold resident Gary Smith, 57, and his partner Crystal, 49, have been camped out in a tent along the Welland Canal because they can no longer afford a home.

“It’s hard,” says Smith, standing outside their campsite. “We’ve been looking. The rent is just crazy right now.”

The couple’s troubles started one year ago, when they were evicted from the Thorold home they'd been renting for four years.

“Our lease was two years so when it went down we never discussed it [with the landlord],” Smith says. “The rent just kept going in. Two years after, so we had a couple years without a lease, the furnace starts knocking. I call the maintenance manager. He shows up with the landlord and a real estate agent.”

Before they knew it, the couple found an eviction notice in their mail. Smith tried fighting the decision but he says his plea fell on deaf ears.

The pair doesn't have driver’s licenses, so they found somebody who could rent a U-Haul and put their belongings in storage.

When they arrived at the U-Haul facility in St. Catharines, they say the person they hired had started fighting with employees, triggering a phonecall to police. Officers told the couple to take their stuff and go.

“We took all our stuff out of the storage unit, and walked across the lot and had a garage sale,” says Smith. “Everything went up for sale. We stayed right on that empty lot. We put a tarp over a couple of trees and that’s where we slept on skids.”

After staying six weeks on the lot across from the U-Haul location, police asked them to leave, so they relocated to their current spot between the railroad and the Welland Canal.

The couple spends most of their days following the same routine. Crystal stays at the campsite to watch their dog, Buddy, and cat, Willow.

“I don’t leave here,” says Crystal, who did not want her last name published. “It’s gets lonely and stressful but I got my Internet. I watch movies.”

Crystal has a phone that she charges with a solar panel. If the couple manages to save enough money, she can use her mobile Internet every day to keep busy. She also likes taking pictures of the local wildlife such as deer and turtles.

Smith, a certified arborist, bikes to Glendale Avenue to panhandle. After a day of standing out in the sun with his sign, he usually scrapes together somewhere between $40 to $60. By the time he buys food and something to drink, the money is all gone again.

The couple doesn't want to go to a homeless shelter because they don’t want to be around drug addicts and or get rid of their pets.

“My pets are my kids,” says Crystal. “I won’t go anywhere without them.”

The couple says that sleeping in a tent in below-zero temperatures this past winter was brutal. To create warmth, the couple used steel plates from the railroad tracks.

“We picked up ten of them and I get the fire going, put the steel plates on there, turn it red and then bring it in the tent,” Smith says. “I have a pail and put it on a bucket. As long as we could get the rotation up we could keep the heat up.”

Luckily, someone has hooked up the couple up with a propane heater. They say the local community has been really kind to them. People stop by and leave food or drinks. One household nearby is even letting the couple use their hose for fresh water.

“There are many good people out there,” says Smith. “I have to say to all the people that help panhandlers or somebody in our situation: God bless your hearts and thank you for everything that you’ve done.”

Community Care Thorold has also been a real beacon of hope for the couple, and they urge everyone in Thorold to donate to that organization.

The pair hopes to get into an apartment before winter comes again, but the problem is getting enough money together for first and last months’ rent.

“It would be nice just to have first and last, and somewhere we could afford,” Smith says. “A thousand dollar one-bedroom-apartment with first and last paid and we’d be out of here—just to get a start.”

Smith says the couple is stuck in a loop. They can’t get credit because they don’t have an address and without credit they can’t afford to get a place. Crystal looked into starting a GoFundMe page but you also need an address for that. 

All the couple can do for now is hope for some sort of miracle.

“I’ve never been homeless in all my life,” Smith says. “Everything happened way too quick, from losing our house to losing our possessions, to being in a tent.”

“It’s so humbling,” adds Crystal. “It’s an eye-opener.”