When Sevag came to Canada 25 years ago, he never thought he and his family would be living out of a motel room with no clear next move.
That’s the demoralizing situation a 56-year-old Armenian father of two adult children finds himself in after a series of events that began when all three were laid-off, lost their rental place and couldn't find much help from regional housing services.
In an interview at a Hespeler Road motel, Sevag — who only provided a first name out of concern for his children’s privacy — has been staying there with his wife and two adult children for about a week following a brief stint at a friend’s Airbnb.
After 13 years, the family had to leave their Cambridge rental home following years of battling with the landlord over an alleged rat infestation and lack of heat caused by it, he said.
Meanwhile, in 2023 he and his children were laid off from the same retail flooring store.
“This is when things start to get really tough because we lost three people’s income, we lost them all within a month’s period,” Sevag said.
At this point he said he was unable to pay rent and eventually his landlord sold the property with his family having to leave in February 2025.
Through this time, Sevag said he has struggled to find work due to his health issues and his family is largely relying on Ontario Works due to his wife’s inability to work.
She has her own health issues and his daughter needs to stay at home with her. His son is the only one of the four who works full-time which does not leave much income to save for first and last month's rent.
He’s applied to rent at many places but was only accepted by Skyline which required an indemnifier, a person who would be legally responsible for his rent, which he said isn’t fair for him to ask of anyone.
Trying to access housing support from the Region of Waterloo has been a frustrating experience as he’s being told he doesn’t qualify for any of the programs despite assurances from others they could help.
When he called Starling Community Services, formerly Lutherwood, he discovered they could only provide last month’s rent, and he would need to get on the housing wait list at the Region of Waterloo for rent support.
When he heard about a homeless prevention program, he claimed he was told to qualify for that he needed to be homeless which he argued he already is.
"The more you look into those programs it just makes my blood boil," Sevag said. "You're under the mercy of whoever answers the phone."
He feels his family is being pushed to the shelter system, one step closer to being on the streets.
“First you feel you let your family down, second you have to be the one to keep their morale up,” he said.
Chris Sellers, director of communications and development at Starling, deferred all comment on this story to the Region of Waterloo.
Chris McEvoy, manager of housing policy and homelessness prevention at the Region of Waterloo, said he can’t speak to specific cases but generally housing services staff are working to identify and address gaps within the local housing system.
“If there are community members who are not being served by our system, we want to hear about it,” McEvoy said.
He noted there are supports through the rent bank for individuals with low income to seek assistance and gain access to new housing.
That program doesn’t require being on the housing wait list, which currently has over 10,000 names with wait times of up to eight years varying based on the type of property sought.
He said there are a number of reasons why someone might not be eligible, again stressing he can’t speak to this specific case, which could include whether or not the housing unit is sustainable based on household income.
McEvoy concluded there isn’t enough affordable and supportive housing to meet the demand which is causing an increase in people experiencing homelessness. A recent Point-in-Time count found there to be over 2,300 people in Waterloo Region experiencing homelessness.
A key message McEvoy stressed is the region is working towards creating more affordable housing units through its Plan to End Chronic Homelessness.
“The vast majority of investments are strategically done with affordable and supportive housing because we know that affordable housing is the way out of our housing crisis that we see,” McEvoy said.
Cambridge regional Coun. Doug Craig said, unfortunately, examples of people struggling to access housing supports aren’t unusual due to the whole system being overburdened and underfunded.
“There’s gaps in the system because of the lack of housing, lack of rental units and the lack of money from the federal and provincial governments to accelerate the buildings and the things we need,” Craig said. “That’s why the gaps exist.”
When learning of Sevag’s story, Craig said he understands why he would be frustrated in his situation but stressed staff at the region work around policies set up by the regional council.
“There will be, at times, situations that don’t fit everybody but they still try to work around that,” Craig said.
As of now, Sevag and his family are left paying over $100 per night for a motel room and money is running out.
In a follow-up phone call, Sevag said he spoke with Craig who had told him he would connect him directly with regional staff. At the same time, he learned from his caseworker he will be receiving less from Ontario Works because he is no longer renting a place.
He dreads what may happen next if things don’t work out.
“I try not to think about it because it terrifies me,” he said.