It took hundreds of messages to owners, a huge outpouring of support from a community of dog lovers and stops at the Gathering Place, a hotel and several campsites. But after searching since last December, Tremaine “Trey” Clarke and his trusty dog, Buddy, have finally landed a new apartment. “Oh my god, I have my keys,” Clark said. “Now I have some stability.” Clarke said he was ecstatic to hear the news this week. “I was jumping up and down — I felt like John Travolta, dancing all over the place,” Clark said. “We’ve been waiting for this for so long.” Since May, Clark has been living in a tent at Pippy Park Campground in St. John’s. And he is not the only person facing housing insecurity who has settled in the park. CBC News knows three other people are staying at the campsite either looking for a place to rent or while waiting for a rental to become available. Clark said many landlords in the St. John’s metro area refuse tenants with dogs. But for Clarke, his dog Buddy is non-negotiable. “It’s my medicine,” Clark said. (Mark Cumby/CBC) But since camping at Pippy Park costs about as much as renting an apartment, the campground is an unlikely site for a future tent city. Clark said his semi-service, which includes shower access and electricity, costs $995 a month. And the main reason Clarke was able to pay those fees, meet Buddy’s needs, and finally find an apartment? The collective courtesy of about 7,000 dog lovers in the “Snowdogs of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada” Facebook group — especially the courtesy of that group’s founder and moderator, Heather Gordon.
A 7 month search begins
“I always watch him because I call Trey my adopted nephew,” Gordon said. Clark, in turn, calls Gordon his guardian angel. The two met last fall when the Snowdogs team began helping Clarke cover the vet bills and medication for Buddy. Clarke said he had recently been injured in a car accident and had started looking for apartments while staying at the Gathering Place shelter. WATCHES | Tremaine “Trey” Clarke describes what it was like living in a tent and then moving into an apartment:
He lived in a park. Some community support put him in an apartment
Tremaine “Trey” Clarke describes how from life in a tent at Pippy Park in St. John’s moved into an apartment to call his own. But Clarke found life at the Gathering Place difficult, especially because of the alleged drug use of the shelter’s clients. “With everybody’s highs and lows in there, it was kind of tough,” Clark said. Paul Davis, the executive director of the Gathering Place, said in an interview that the shelter provides a low-barrier service, meaning people who actively use substances are welcome at the center. “We’re asking people not to use the site and when it’s spotted or spotted, they’re asked to stop,” Davis said. “We ask them to leave, we advise them that they can’t stay here to use and so on, but sometimes it happens and we recognize that.” After an argument at the center, Clarke said he and his former partner were restricted from returning to the Gathering Place for two and a half weeks. But by that point, they had had enough. In April, as their search for housing continued, Clarke and his ex-partner decided to set up a tent at Quidi Vidi. “The [was] the safer. It’s better for our mental health and everything else,” Clarke said. That month, Gordon was shocked when he checked in on Clarke. He thought he was still at the Gathering Place. But the video Clark sent Gordon told a different story. “I was looking [at the video] and I noticed there was a thin blanket under Trey and a sleeping bag over him. And he had his coat next to him, and he had Buddy wrapped up in the coat, and he was shaking and Buddy was shaking,” Gordon recalled. At the time, Gordon said, she couldn’t wrap her head around the situation. “It was snowing outside. And I said, ‘There’s no way anyone’s going to live like this,’” Gordon said. “So I put it [Snowdogs] club. And I’d say within a day and a half, we had enough money to pay for a week at the Fairfield Inn on Kenmount Road.”
Shifting luck
That first week at the hotel quickly turned into two when a second Facebook group of dog lovers—this time, based in Nova Scotia—offered to pay bills for a second week. And throughout Clarke’s stay at the hotel, Gordon said Snowdogs members kept dropping by with dog food, home-cooked meals and other essentials. But behind the scenes, Gordon worried about what to do next. Heather Gordon, the founder of the “Snowdogs of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada” Facebook group, met Clarke and Buddy near their new apartment. (Submitted by Heather Gordon) “Obviously it cost a lot of money to keep him in the hotel,” he said. “And I was trying to wrap my head around, like, where can we put this person so they’re safe and they’re OK?” Then it hit her: Pippy Park. Again, the Snowdogs raised money to cover Clarke’s fees and left essentials for Clarke – a tarp, a Coleman stove, a cooling pad for Buddy. Gordon kept the Snowdogs team updated on how Clarke and Buddy were doing. And in the meantime, Gordon and Clark continued to send hundreds of messages to the owners. Like many people looking for housing in St. John’s these days, Gordon and Clark both felt like they were going nowhere. “I have about 500,600 people I’ve messaged since December,” Clarke said. “That too [was] just rented, rented, rented. No. No dogs allowed.’ … This [was] just crazy.” But finally, a glimmer of housing hope has come to light – again, raised by the Snowdogs team supporter. A woman who had been a member of the group for years told Gordon she had an apartment and offered to create a screening for Clark. Now Clarke’s luck has finally changed. And, of course, Clarke is excited too. “As I said, [Gordon’s] like an angel. The people on the team are also amazing. I don’t know what I can ever do to repay her and the world,” Clark said. “If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know where we’d be.”
“There are so many Treys out there”
Doug Pawson, executive director of End Homelessness St. John’s, said it’s not unusual for residents of this province who rely on shelters to move outside for the summer. “We’re not dealing with encampments like you see in other cities like Halifax or Toronto or Edmonton,” he said. But Pawson said the metro area’s recent shortage of rental housing, combined with a marked increase in rental prices, is putting an additional burden on people with a history of housing insecurity. “We still see people being housed who are experiencing homelessness and chronic homelessness,” he said. “But it puts a lot of pressure on the system when housing supply is much more limited.” Moving forward, Pawson said he would like to see more targeted investment in affordable housing, along with a housing-focused housing system. That kind of system, he said, would focus on helping people find housing immediately, “so people don’t have to spend months in a shelter.” For his part, Clarke is full of gratitude for everyone who helped him and Buddy find a fresh start. And Gordon, who had never helped anyone experiencing homelessness before, said the past few months had been very rewarding. But after texting hundreds of landlords herself — and getting a handle on the current rental market — Gordon worries about where it’s all going. “What people are realizing now is that there are so many Treys out there … there are so many people out there who need help, you know?” said Gordon. “It definitely opened my eyes.” Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
