Help Moving Forward

Brenda Hanson is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Hi, my name is Brenda and I am a single mother of two living in Windsor, Ontario. After my 12-year marriage abruptly ended in December of 2023, I was left alone and struggled to support myself - I still am.

I have used Legal Aid to secure child support, but the separation agreement remains unsigned. Although I was a mother and (common law) wife in that home for nearly 8 years, my unpaid housework and childcare was apparently not sufficient for a claim to the house. As a result, I was left with nothing. I lived in multiple places last year, one of which was a women's shelter during the summer of 2024.

I was fortunate enough to secure my first rental in September through help from the Housing Stability Program (previously places were only rooms), but rushed to get it as I simply wanted to leave the shelter. I didn't view the rental beforehand. It has been an awful experience living here. I have the main floor of a house that is located on a very busy main road in the city. There were 3 older men living upstairs when I arrived. The first moved out in December due to the second using meth and fentanyl very often. The third has been nothing short of "creepy". The second man died in April of this year, while the third did not call for police etc. That man was rotting on the bathroom floor upstairs for several days before I woke up to the smell of his corpse and called for help. This third man, whom I know knew that man was dead and whom I suspect is also a user, has been allowed to live upstairs without paying rent since January of 2024, last I was told. He was evicted at the end of April 2025, but still remains upstairs. Keep in mind I have two children. I requested help with this multiple times from the landlord but was ignored.

On top of this, the house is falling apart. My bottom cupboards are rotted and when I arrived here they were absolutely RIDDLED with mouse droppings. I later received help with mouse bait, but the landlord neglected to take the advice of the exterminator and patch up any holes. They also refused to replace the rotting wood. My bathroom ceiling is also falling apart and I believe it is from water damage. After waiting for them to fix it, I just got help from a friend and tried to fix it ourselves. That hasn't worked and its been falling apart this whole time.

My door to my unit is thin and mostly made of glass. I have had to avoid my living room due to the addicts either being loud and high upstairs or literally right in front of my door.

On top of all this, my income is limited. I work part time and only get scheduled 12 to 20 hours a week, although I do try to take shifts. I was in school full time (Masters of Counselling Psychology), online, from September to December 2024 but had to drop out as OSAP would not provide living expenses. I appealed and tried but was not given enough funding for the program. I was told its because it was online, out of province and a private institution. I was also unable to recieve Ontario Works while on OSAP, which did not even cover tuition let alone living expenses. I had to make the decision to drop out.

Anyone who knows me knows that working in the field of addictions and mental health means everything to me. But without my masters, I am essentially stuck at my minimum wage part time job. I have applied to many other places in the last 6 months, recieving only two interviews and not getting hired.

My child tax benefit, and other benefits, we're cut in half / removed from me last year and again this year. I paid back nearly 3000$ last summer and it happened again this year. From April 2025 to July 2025, I am losing over $2200 of benefit income due to discrepancies with the CRA between the dates I provided and what my ex partner provided. I submitted our separation date on time last year, while he waited months to do so on his end. He put a wrong date and they asked us both for proof. He assured me he told them he made a mistake and I believe him. However, with no proof from either of us, they changed my dates on me to what he put, causing me to owe them money. In April alone I lost over $800 in benefit money. I also did not receive Ontario Works that month, losing another $800. As a result, I was unable to pay my $1600 for rent (I also pay utilities). I paid this during May.

However, I am now late for May and June rent. I have unfortunately had to call in to work several times during April / May due to personal problems I cannot put on here as it involves my child. I am attempting to seek support from the Housing Stability Program, but they already paid my first and last when leaving the shelter. They only help every 24 months. I was told I will likely not receive help but to submit an application anyway. I have been given an N4 as of today (June 20th) and sent my application off. I likely won't have time to even have this processed / approved or denied before the next 2 weeks (N4 provided 14 days to pay or I will be taken to court for eviction).

I am unable to rent any other place. I have severely low credit and cannot get a cosigner of sorts for a rental or a bank loan. If I lose access to this rental, I am incredibly likely to end up in the shelter. I am terrified to go back there. They no longer send people to motels and I do not want to subject my children to that place again. Plenty of parents, men and women, use drugs while sitting outside with their young children. A 3 month old infant died in there while I was with the shelter, but living in the motel (which was dangerous all on its own).

I currently owe $3200 in rent. I also owe nearly $6000 to loans in collections, as well as about $800 in past due bills. Not to mention literally $100,000+ to my student loans, but this is a separate issue for me to tackle. My BA in Psychology and Graduate Certificate in Mental Health proved to be rather useless. I need my masters, but again, I cant afford it. I have no idea how I will ever get into another program, but that is a problem for some other time.

I am completely alone in raising my teenager and share 50/50 custody of my 9 year old son. I have no family in this city but have thankfully made strong relationships with some people, especially within the last year.

I have appealed my issue with the CRA but I won't even have any sort of answer until August. I am at risk of eviction. I will not bring my children to the shelter, I can't do it. Its terrible there. This means my son will stay here in Windsor with his father and my daughter will have to leave the city to go live with my sister back home where I am from, 3 hours away, thus losing access to me, her friends, and the start of high school in September. She does not have a father for support. My ex partner, her stepdad of 11.5 years, does provide child support for her, but that is all. They do not speak. Her biological dad has spent less than 6 months total with her in the last 12 years.

However, I fear the shelter will not accept me without a child as they are constantly full and obviously prioritize families over single women. I have no idea what I am going to do but am trying not to panic - not yet.

Even if I did not owe back rent for my current place, there is heavy construction happening right beside my driveway. Again, I live on a main city road and a Costco is going behind this house. Right now they are starting the intersection. I have been told that this house will be demolished at some point. And yet, now that construction begins, it is a "maybe"? I am confused.

The funding I am requesting on here is to help pay past due rent, bills, things in collections, and July rent as I won't have enough for it soon. I will never be able to rent anywhere else once I either have to leave this place due to eviction, construction or of my own choosing to secure somewhere cleaner and more safe. As long as this debt is hanging over my head, I am stuck. I've tried a bank loan, denied. Its not enough for a consolidation loan - I've tried several times in the last year. I've managed to pay off about $2000 of the debt but a lot still remains.

If you read all this, thank you for simply doing that.

Any and all donation funds will be put towards my family / bills / debt in hopes to alleviate some of the stress we are experiencing. I set it to $10,000 and GFM will increase from $4,000 on as needed. Again, I have no expectations. I am thankful for whatever.

I just want to live somewhere safe and secure, and get to a financial point where I can start making some positive changes. The goal of all this is more than just to stay in this rental - I need to move towards my masters degree and thus my career as an addictions therapist, but I am so incredibly far from that at the moment. The better I can do in my financial, personal, and academic life, the better life I can give my children, who deserve far more than what they have received. I am in no way a perfect parent and have made many bad decisions, some of which still effect me to this day. I just want to do better and be better but this is just exhausting now. I am 33 soon and have spent since I was at least 12 struggling in so many ways.

I just need to catch a break.

Thank you.

N4 Notice