Global Courant
Kathryn Hewlett has been living in an RV for two years because she couldn’t find a rental home she could afford in New Jersey or Newfoundland. (Submitted by Kathryn Hewlett)
For two years, Kathryn Hewlett’s entire life has been packed into a 20-foot vehicle. She has a small bed, a bathroom, a stove and a dining table that are barely a few feet apart.
She is constantly wandering around, looking for the next place to park. While she is grateful to have a roof over her head, she wants a stable place to call home.
“It’s gotten to the point where I can’t go on psychologically. I can’t keep doing this like I’ve been doing for two years,” said Hewlett, who is originally from Pennsylvania and currently lives full-time in an RV in Newfoundland. and Labrador.
“Move the RV, stay here, stay there. My body is getting tired.’
Hewlett is part of a growing number of people across the county and country struggling to find an affordable place to live, said Hope Jamieson, an affordable housing consultant and researcher in St. John’s.
The inside of Hewlett’s RV. She says she’s had many different living situations over the past two years, including parking in family members’ driveways. (Submitted by Kathryn Hewlett)
Jamieson said average rents in the county – and the country more broadly – have risen about twice as fast as median household income over the past 15 years. They say the last time a household in a major Canadian city could afford to buy a house based on median income was about two decades ago.
In addition, says Jamieson, a lack of affordable housing is partly due to the lack of supply.
The vacancy rate in Newfoundland and Labrador dropped from about seven percent in 2019 to just under three percent today, leaving many people with limited options. In some cases, the only viable option is to pack up the house and hit the road.
“There are a lot more people looking for a place to rent at an affordable rate and a lot more people looking to maximize their return on investment by raising rents to what they think the market will bear,” said Jamieson.
“That’s the system we’ve put in place and it’s letting people down.”
‘I want to settle down’
Hewlett recently signed a one-year lease on a property in Triton, a small town in central Newfoundland, due this August, but that was only after two years of searching.
In 2021, Hewlett quit her job as a building manager for a nonprofit in New Jersey, which she says left her overworked and without support. The building was also the place she called home. So when she left her job, she became both unemployed and homeless.
That’s when she packed her things, stored most of them and started living full time in an RV with the help of family.
Hewlett says the RV isn’t always economical. For example, she says she spent $1,500 on maintenance costs for her trailer this spring. (Submitted by Kathryn Hewlett)
“The RV was a survival technique,” Hewlett said, adding that the RV is in her daughter’s name. “It gave me a place to go when I had to get out. It’s been such a lifeline for me.”
Hewlett has dual nationality and took her RV from the United States to Newfoundland and Labrador, where most of her family is from.
Over the past two years, she has had many different living situations, she said, both in the US and Newfoundland. She has parked her RV in relatives’ driveways and RV parks, worked on a farm on the west coast of the island in exchange for a place to stay, and found temporary shelter in rental properties for the winter.
“I want to settle down,” Hewlett said, her voice cracking through tears. “I need my own space.”
An affordable alternative?
Danielle Steiner told CBC News that she can’t find rent either.
She and her husband, David Janzen, live full-time in a 25-foot RV at a Mount Pearl RV park. They moved from Vancouver Island to the province, because Janzen went back to school and they couldn’t afford to live on one salary in the communities where he planned to go to school in B.C.
What they didn’t realize was how limited their life options would be elsewhere.
David Janzen, left, and Danielle Steiner live full-time in a 25-foot RV at a Mount Pearl RV park. (Submitted by Danielle Steiner)
“When we looked at rental properties here, we didn’t really realize how much crisis there was in terms of demand,” said Steiner. “There’s a lot of demand in BC, but it’s just very swollen here.”
Steiner said the only realistic option is to live in a camper van right now.
She said she and her husband enjoy living in an RV, but it’s not necessarily more cost-effective than a rental. They pay about $1,000 a month in the summer to stay at the campgrounds in Mount Pearl, and another $200 during the winter months.
Hope Jamieson is an affordable housing consultant and researcher in St. John’s. They say average rents in the province, and the country at large, have risen about twice as fast as average household income over the past 15 years. (Garrett Barry/CBC)
There are also other challenges that come with living in RVs.
For example, Hewlett said she spent $1,500 on maintenance for her trailer this spring.
“If I had money and chose to live in an RV, I’d be everywhere,” Hewlett said. “But I’m not in that position. I’m in the position of needing a house to live.”
Homelessness is skyrocketing
It’s unclear how many people in the county live in RVs full-time, Jamieson said, but according to figures from St. John’s End Homelessness, homelessness in the city has risen 63 percent in the past year.
The reasons for this increase are diverse. Higher rents are partly due to a lack of rent control legislation in the county, Jamieson said.
There is no limit on the amount by which a landlord can increase rent, they said — the only caveat is that landlords must give tenants six months’ notice.
Jamieson said the county needs to address the lack of rent control legislation and invest in more community housing.
“We’ve been relying on the private market for 30 years and it hasn’t solved the problem,” said Jamieson.
“So I think it doesn’t make a lot of sense to keep repeating the same patterns and expect something to change.”
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
