Lori Culbert, Vancouver Sun, April 29, 2022 (With comments from BCNPHA Senior Policy Analyst Andrés Peñaloza.
Kayce Hopwood keeps her food in sealed plastic bins, stacked precariously high on her kitchen table, so the mice inside her Richmond apartment won’t eat it.
The single mother has been trying for six months to find a new rental home for her and her six-year-old son, but there’s nothing adequate that she can afford, despite the fact she has four part-time jobs.
“There is literally nothing available, not even a single option in my price range in Richmond right now … and that’s with extending my budget by adding another $300 (a month) when I’m already stretched thin,” said Hopwood.
“The housing crisis was bad a year ago but now it’s so much worse. Basically we are stuck here in this mice-infested building.”