It’s the fear of walking across the street, the broken homes in her street and the empty needles she finds in the park that make Cassidy Wallis feel like she needs to move if she wants to feel safe … safe for her own sake and that of her daughter Emma.
Wallis is 22 years old and her daughter Emma is three. They live in an affordable housing apartment for single, teen mothers in Edmonton but Wallis said it’s not a good place for children.
“It’s a bad neighbourhood. Sometimes I am scared to walk from my apartment to my car and my car has been broken into twice,” she said.
“And Emma doesn’t want to sit at home anymore.”
Wallis is a quiet woman, with a kind smile and long, dark hair. She is also a role model for others.
She studies psychology at Grant MacEwan University, and works at St. Albert’s Family Resource Centre during the summer. That pays for four months of living expenses. The rest of the time she relies on government grants and scholarships.
“I am lucky enough I don’t have to work during the school year but it’s hard with all the schoolwork and studying,” she said, adding that Emma stays at a day home while she’s in school.
In two years Wallis will be too old to live in the teen housing complex but she also can’t afford to pay full rental costs.
To free up her apartment for other expectant teens, she’s now applied for a unit at Big Lake Pointe in St. Albert, a new apartment complex slated to open next year.
Big Lake Pointe is now accepting applications for 118 apartment-style suites. Rental incentives are available for households whose maximum income is below $36,000 for one bedroom, $43,500 for two bedrooms and $56,000 for those needing a three-bedroom apartment.
For those with incomes exceeding that, market rental suites are available.
There are some rental assistance programs available in St. Albert but organizations like the St. Albert Housing Society are constantly looking for new options to help families in need.
Doris Vandersteen, the society’s executive director, said St. Albert needs more affordable housing and housing options for families and individuals with low and moderate incomes.
The society is currently fundraising to help those seeking support other than rental incentives. On Nov. 27, it will be hosting a homestyle breakfast to raise $1.5 million for its HOMEconnection program.
The program works in collaboration with other community partners. It is designed to provide housing and supportive services for single-parent families with limited incomes, victims of domestic violence and seniors living below the poverty line.
“There are others who need affordable housing but this is where we are beginning,” Vandersteen said.
She added the greatest cost associated with providing housing below market price is in construction and land use. Organizations need to fundraise, and require aid on a federal, provincial and municipal level.
In a meeting this week with the St. Albert Gazette, Mayor Nolan Crouse said the city was working on providing more rental options in the city, especially for young families.
He said council is in the process of changing land use bylaws and the municipal development plan, providing the proper zoning for rentals, multi-family housing options and smaller homes.
Pursuing other housing options like the Habitat for Humanity project currently being built in Akinsdale are currently not on the city council’s agenda, he said.
In 2011, St. Albert’s food bank executive director Suzan Krecsy counted 700 families coming through her doors. Ninety-eight per cent of them earned less than $40,000 a year.
Forty-nine per cent spent more than 70 per cent of their income on housing, with another 36 per cent spending 30 to 50 per cent. Krecsy said 30 per cent is the limit to live somewhat comfortably.
To make it in St. Albert, a single person has to earn at least $17 an hour, she said.
Krecsy said the city’s reputation as a rich community creates a false impression.
“Its important to educate the community that those struggling with affordable housing are neighbours,” she said.
“We need to understand who these people are that need affordable housing. The people that take care of your child at daycare, the people who serve you coffee … and we need all of them.”
Maureen Ligtvoet, family support program manager at St. Albert’s Family Resource Centre, said housing is the core to every family’s wellbeing.
Parenting programs at the centre are at a loss when people don’t have their mind set on learning but are instead worried about paying their rent.
“As soon as you stress around finances your parenting skills are not as strong. Stress can do really ugly things in the home,” she said.
“If their rent is slightly reduced, there is money for food, for daycare and maybe to go back to school. And maybe even to take their child to a movie or buy them the clothes they need.”
Wallis grew up in St. Albert. She said she wants to live here because people take pride in their homes and children can play barefoot in parks without stepping on glass.
While there are other affordable housing opportunities in Edmonton, she said it would come down to living in the same kind of rundown neighbourhoods like the one where she now lives. She also wants to move forward instead of going back a step and living with her family again.
“I have a roof over my head right now but I hope there’s enough housing for me to move here,” she said.
Paying the rent always comes first for someone like Wallis. If her car breaks down she has to cut the money from another part of her budget.
She would feed her daughter before herself and she’s done it in the past, but that’s not the future she has in mind.
“One day I want to give her everything she needs and wants,” she said, “get her to a good pre-school, pay for her education.”
