Meet Mike and Anne, two Londoners without a steady place to live
CBC
Anne Peckham never imagined she'd be homeless.
For almost two decades, the 79-year-old used to manage other people's money as she rose through the ranks in banking, starting off as a teller and working her way up to the role of financial advisor.
"I won lots of awards, I had lots of sales. I never thought when I was working there that I would be here," the senior told CBC News.
For the last year, Peckham has been living at the Ark Aid Mission's Cronyn-Warner House. A separation from her partner in 2012 led to financial difficulties, and then a move to a different bank branch presented other challenges.
"No one wants to be in this situation but it happened, and you have to do the best that you can to survive," she said.
"I have so much to be thankful for. I count my blessings every day because when I hear some of the other stories of the people at Warner, I can't even imagine."
Peckham is one of 70 people who stay at the shelter on William Street and Queens Avenue inside an old church. Most people stay from 9 p.m. until 9 a.m., though some are allowed to stay through the day if they are sick or have mobility issues.
Breakfast and lunch are served, and the shelter has three tiers: 33 mattresses for people in need of emergency shelter in the basement, 15 cots for people with disabilities on the main floor, and 22 more upstairs for people who are more stable.
Those beds are neatly made by each resident, some with totes on top to keep people's belongings. Others have books on them, ready for some pre-bed reading.
But each tier is communal living, and it's not for everyone, said Sarah Campbell, who runs the Ark Aid Mission. People are facing stressful life circumstances, precarious financial situations, and have to sleep with more than a dozen strangers on a small cot.
Campbell dreams of giving people more privacy, perhaps by creating partitions between cots.
Peckham wants to live in a one-bedroom apartment and is getting help from workers at the shelter to set that up, she said. About 160 people who have gone through the shelter have gotten permanent housing.
Also living at Cronyn-Warner is Mike White, 48. He grew up in northern Ontario and had what he describes as a rough childhood and substance use from an early age. "I was eight years old when I started drinking. I had a lot of trauma and a lot of grief," he said. "I've been experiencing homelessness since I was 13. It's been brutal."
He's stayed in the basement on cots, and has also been in other shelters in London. If he can't get a place to stay indoors, he walks all night to stay warm, White said. Having $1,000 per month to pay for a bachelor apartment is unimaginable, he added.
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