A van sits in the shaded parking lot in Sunnidale Park in Barrie, its doors and windows open, homemade curtains billowing in the breeze, and a middle-aged woman sits in the back folding some clothes.
There is an appearance that she may be living in her van.
This is real life, and it’s not always comfortable for many people.
Beverly, 52, who didn't want to give her full name to BarrieToday, says she's trying to make the best of a financial situation that far too many Canadians are experiencing.
She was born in Newfoundland and raised in Sudbury. Her father was a miner. She now has two children, aged 14 and 16, and moved away from Sudbury seven years ago. Her kids live here in Barrie now with their father. The couple has been separated for many years and had shared custody.
“The pandemic is what got me,” says Beverly.
She says she works for the housekeeping department at Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) here in the city and adds there were concerns she would contract the COVID-19 virus and pass it onto family members.
Fearing for the health of her family, Beverly says she then took about eight months off work from the local hospital and, because of the financial stress and ensuing depression, she had to give up her apartment. She also pays child support.
“I moved into this thing last year, in July. I decided to live in it and lasted until well into the fall,” she says of the van.
After suffering from bronchitis and with the cold temperatures getting to her, she moved in with her mother in Stratford.
“I again fell into another depression, because now I’m two-and-a-half hours away from my children. So, I came back here," she says.
Beverly says she returned to her job at RVH and also picked up work with Canada Post, as on-call relief, delivering parcels in the area using her home-on-wheels.
“I could probably get a one-bedroom apartment for $1,400, but I refuse to pay for that where my children can’t come and stay. I may as well stay in this,” she says.
“I’m paying off credit-card debt, the van will be paid off next year. If I could save enough to get a three-bedroom place, I’m pretty sure they would come back, probably, at least 30 or 40 per cent of the time. Especially if I was close to their high school.
“But that’s $2,000 a month, at minimum, plus heat and hydro. I looked at a tiny little two-bedroom house and they wanted $3,700 plus the utilities.”
She says she works long hours and gets paid in the neighbourhood of $25 per hour, but even that isn’t enough to live in an increasingly expensive city like Barrie.
An apartment is still out of reach to her. The unending cycle of paying the cost of living and the inability to shrink her debt makes it impossible to get ahead, she says.
You would think that this snowballing situation that Beverly has found herself in would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, but with living in her van, she doesn’t see it that way.
“You know what? I gotta say, you get used to it, aside from the fact that my kids can’t live in here with me. But we stay busy together and do stuff outside," she says.
Of course, there are challenges to living in a confined space such as a vehicle.
“I would say the sleeping, because I really struggled with getting a comfortable bed, because I did the conversion myself,” says Beverly.
“I just met a fantastic young guy from Oshawa, he’s a 23-year-old carpenter. We camped beside each other one day, and he said, ‘Oh my god, I can totally help you with this,’ so he’s going to do a full van conversion for me, no charge. He’s got the spare wood in his shop,” she says, beaming.
With a year of van life under her belt, she says she’s now far more upbeat.
“I can’t really tell you the downside. At first, the downside was more up in here,” she says, pointing to her head, “where I felt judged. I felt like I was always hiding. I was parking on the streets a lot. I would have to shut everything down when it got dark, because when you have a light going, then they know you’re living in it.
“Once I got past the mental game, I got to feeling quite proud of my small environment. And I’m not a tree, so if I am not comfortable I can pick up and move. I have short-term goals and to be debt-free next year by this time. I have a plan for a small business.”
Beverly says she's focused on the end game and that this is an opportunity to double-down on credit-card payments and other debt that is holding her back.
“If I can get through another year, I will be completely debt-free," she says.
As for that business idea, it would see her team up with a couple of friends to operate a food truck, likely Italian cuisine, all while continuing with her current employment.
Looking ahead, she says she already has accommodation options for the coming winter, thanks to the kindness of friends.
Winter is the big problem, of course, but she knows about other people in the same situation as she is in, living in vehicles outdoors, that don’t have a warm place to stay when it turns cold
During warmer seasons, one of her favourite places to stay is Saulaine, in nearby Utopia, which is a rural retreat property run by the St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Latvian Church of Toronto and is located along the Nottawasaga River.
For $44 per month, Beverly says it’s like living like a king in the summer.
