Sign away his son or be homeless: Single dad struggling in St. John's housing crisis

A St. John's man on the brink of homelessness is facing the possibility of losing his son due to a lack of housing options for people with kids. 

Tristen Keats, who turns 27 this month, lives with his mother and his three-year-old son, Jacoby, in a small basement apartment that is advertised for only one person.

"Here we are now with people living on the side of the street in tents," Keats said. "Me and him are just about there now, right? We got a couple months."

They are running out of time as his mother's landlord has given them a few months to find a new place.

He and his son are among the many people caught in the housing crisis that is sweeping across the country and hitting Newfoundland and Labrador. Social housing and emergency shelters are in high demand, leading many people to take the only home they've known for months — a tent — and station themselves in public spaces around St. John's.

And if facing homelessness is tough, when children are involved, the struggle can be worse.

According to Abbey Quinlan, the Employment Services Lead at the Single Parent Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, the demand for their services, especially their food bank, is rapidly increasing.

"I think it's significantly, significantly impacting them," Quinlan said. "Because, again, they're trying to do and provide the same amount of services and resources to their kids as two people sometimes are."

Keats said he's come a long way in life, and his situation now threatens the progress he's made in his personal recovery.

"I was on drugs, drinking, you know, I didn't give my mother a very good life. I didn't have a very good life for myself because of myself," he said.

At 17, he became a father for the first time, but said he was far from ready for that responsibility. At 18, he was homeless.

When Jacoby was born three years ago, Keats said he worked hard to sober up and take care of him full time. 

"Before Jacoby, I didn't really care about anything. I didn't have a life. I just lived to exist. And now that I have Jacoby, I live for him," he said.