This expectant mom's living in an outdoor shelter as YWCA Hamilton waits on federal funds to build housing

Four months into her pregnancy, Megan Ryan's bump is just visible — a constant reminder of what she's hoping for by the time she gives birth in November: Housing. 

The 34-year-old lives in Hamilton's outdoor shelter, which is designed for adults and pets only. Before that, she lived in a tent near Hamilton's rail trail for over a year, including last winter. She's afraid if she doesn't find a more permanent place to live, her newborn will be put into foster care. 

"That's what I'm terrified of," said Ryan. "And I don't know how I'll deal with that. I really don't." 

CBC Hamilton spoke with Ryan at a park near the outdoor shelter on Wednesday.

She spoke openly about her life: her parents' struggles with alcoholism and how she began drinking at age 13, her first pregnancy at 16 and leaving home to live in a shelter while going to high school, experiences with mental illness and intimate partner violence, and having four more children and trying to keep them housed — renting mostly, but also couch surfing and living in hotel rooms and family shelters. 

In 2021, Ryan, her children and partner at the time were renting a home when he left, and she struggled to pay all the expenses on her own. 

"It came down to paying the bills or buying groceries, so I stopped paying the bills," she said. 

Ryan was evicted in December 2022 and her five kids went to live with other people — a gut-wrenching decision she and they have struggled with since, she said. 

"Two years, that's a long time," Ryan said. "I want my kids back. I've been trying."

But in Hamilton, there are few housing options specifically for unhoused pregnant people and their children to live together until they can find permanent housing. 

The YWCA Hamilton has three beds at its transitional living program for women and non-binary individuals needing emergency reproductive care, but the site can't accommodate partners, pets or children.

That means a person who's given birth can't return with the baby. 

"That's one of the leading issues at the end of pregnancy, with the person we're supporting asking where are they going next?" said Chelsea Kirkby, the YWCA's vice president of strategic initiatives and program development. 

That's where the Oakwood Project comes in, said CEO Medora Uppal.