On the Brink: A Nova Scotia family and the ‘never-ending struggle’ to survive

globalnews.ca:

This is the first instalment of a Global News series called ‘On the Brink,’ which profiles people who are struggling with the rising cost of living. In this story, a Nova Scotia woman talks about the challenges of making ends meet while supporting her family.Maria Burgess knows what it’s like to be on the brink.After years of hardship, the 32-year-old has finally managed to carve out a happy life for herself and her family – but it wasn’t easy.“Now we have a working stove, a working fridge, the clothes on our back and food in our cupboards, which is the big thing for me,” she said in an interview from her home in Moncton, N.B., where she recently moved after exhausting her options in Nova Scotia.She recalls, not too long ago, having to choose between buying groceries, paying rent and letting a bill go.

In their case, food always came first, so her children could eat.“The struggle is real,” Burgess said.Like a lot of families who are on the brink, Burgess’s troubles began with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the family lost their rented home of five years in Windsor, N.S.“That’s when the landlord sold and the prices got jacked up,” she said.After their landlord decided to sell, Burgess, her husband and two of their children moved to another house in Halifax. Burgess and her partner each have a child from previous relationships who went to live in different households.The four of them were only able to stay in the house for eight months before the utility costs became untenable.

Then, it was back to the drawing board.Burgess said the search for affordable housing in a province with a sub-one-per-cent vacancy rate was hugely challenging.“It’s hard to find housing nowadays. It’s usually like $2,800, plus utilities.