Ezra’s Story
This holiday season is particularly special for Ezra and his 18-year-old Brussels Griffon Shih Tzu mix, Muppet. This month, the duo celebrates one year of being housed through Homeward Trust’s Housing Support program.
Before he had been housed, Ezra and Muppet had experienced homelessness for a year in Edmonton before securing permanent housing. However, Ezra had really been without stable housing for 15 years.
“I had a piece of property [on Hatzic Island, east of Mission, BC] but I just had a shed on it,” he explains. “It wasn’t considered a ‘dwelling’ since it didn’t have an occupancy permit. I would spend some summers and some winters there, but I typically would try to find alternative accommodation for the winter.”
Ezra was a full-time driver for a furniture moving company, which required him to drive across the country or into the USA doing moves for the Department of National Defence and the RCMP. He often would sleep in his truck or pitch a tent and camp out.
“You can live outside in BC in the summertime and nobody looks at you funny because everyone is camping,” he says. “I would tour around, moving furniture across the country. It was like a paid vacation all summer.”
Ezra reveals that he didn’t know that his provisional accommodations categorized him as homeless, or what the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness describes as experiencing hidden homelessness. Those experiencing hidden homelessness could be couch surfing, staying with friends or family, sleeping in cars, abandoned buildings or other precarious accommodation.
Ezra admits that he continued to sleep in those provisional accommodations even after moving to Edmonton in 2015. He started his own moving company and would sleep in his truck or his workshop between trips.
“I didn’t know anything else,” he reflects.
An unfortunate turn of events resulted in Ezra losing everything, including his company, vehicles, trailer and other hard assets. With nowhere to go, Ezra was forced to seek out support and services from emergency shelters, food banks and other homeless-serving organizations. Ezra and Muppet could not stay at any of the shelters in the city due to their no-pet policies, leaving Ezra to find alternate accommodations.
Getting rid of Muppet wasn’t an option and Ezra was determined to find somewhere for them to stay.
In the meantime, Ezra managed to find an empty security hut with heat, which he transformed into a makeshift living space for himself and Muppet during the winter by bringing in cushions, a mattress and Muppet’s dishes.
“I lived in there. I had to be super careful that no one saw my footprints in the snow. Security went by there 10 to 20 times a day,” he says. “I did all of this for Muppet. I wouldn’t give up Muppet for anything in the world.”
In October 2018, through the recommendation of a counselor at Boyle Street Community Services, Ezra visited Homeward Trust’s Coordinated Access service for their Housing Support programs. It wasn’t until the intake interview that Ezra learned that he had, in fact, been in and out of homelessness for the last 15 years and had been chronically homeless for one year.
“I had no fixed address. I was living in a 22-foot trailer in Edmonton,” he says. “When they broke it down, they realized that I had been homeless for a while.”
Ezra said it took 30 days for him and Muppet to get housed.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he says. “They told me that I would be housed before Christmas and then on December 21, 2018, I got my first home.”
Ezra was first housed in a downtown apartment but relocated to a one-bedroom unit in Belgravia, where he and Muppet now live.
As for the holidays, Ezra admits he doesn’t have any traditions since his parents passed away in 2006 and 2007, but he does like to cook, and he plans on making a turkey dinner and invite some friends over.
“Muppet definitely appreciates it,” he says.
One thing is for certain: Ezra and Muppet are grateful to be in their own home after years of experiencing homelessness and look forward to relaxing at home for their one-year anniversary of being housed.
