A displaced couple desperately searches for decent housing since they are forced to live in their car with their two dogs.
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“At the price the rents are being made… we can’t find anything. I don’t make millions, my little wife has her little pension. “I can’t pay the $1,350 to $1,550 rent,” says Michel Langis, discouraged.
Mr Langis and his wife Carole Lareau have been living in their vehicle for a week with their two dogs, Bébé and Titi d’amour, five and six years old.
Their meals these days are mostly peanut butter toast. To wash up, they rented a small motel room in Montreal for two nights, which cost them $300.
“We have to wash from time to time, so I pay out of my own pocket. But I’m not rich! We can’t stay here,” says the worker who works in “a linen press,” still smiling.
“It gives us a chance to rest a bit. But our dogs have lost their bearings. “We can see that they are not well,” worried the couple, who had to return to their room at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning.
The car or the motel are the only solutions left to Mr. Langis and his wife to avoid being on the road since they were forced to leave the accommodation they rented.
“I never thought that at 63 I would have to look for a roof like this,” sighs Ms. Lareau.
Illegal Rental
Last April, Mr. Langis received a visit from an inspector from the city of Montreal. He tells them that the accommodation they have been renting in a basement for $1,150 a month since January 1st is not safe and, above all, that it should not be rented out.
“He told us that the owner had no right to rent it to us, that it was non-compliant and that it was not habitable. He told us that we had to leave by June 1st,” explains the 59-year-old, who says the ceiling is only 1.80 meters high.
“It served its purpose, even if it wasn’t great,” he continues.
Despair
Since the Commissioner’s visit, Michel Langis and his wife have been desperately looking for somewhere to stay.
“Every day we write people, we call. But often we don’t even get a call back,” says Ms. Lareau.
“Now landlords are asking for a 750 credit score! I’m recovering from bankruptcy, my rating is 500, doing what I can! I get up at 3 a.m. every day to go to work,” says Langis.
And if you have two dogs, finding an apartment becomes even more difficult, he fears.
“I can’t give her up! We got them very young, they’re our babies,” he admits, his throat tight.
– In collaboration with Marianne Langlois, Le Journal de Montréal
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