Philip and Sonja Hathaway have a roof over their heads, but they live most of their days and nights with worry — and in survival mode.
The couple live in the Campbell River estuary on a small boat built from recycling containers, water bottles and wood.
Tarps over a wood frame cover a tent, and the floating home is powered by a five-horsepower engine.
The Hathaways have been living like this since June 2021, when they built their “Blue Dream” in Goldstream Park and sailed north, hoping to find calm, friendly bays while waiting for supportive housing.
They’ve been moored in the estuary for more than a year now, but every time they leave the boat for supplies or appointments, they worry it won’t be there when they return.
The couple say they’ve been “hassled” at their various moorings by police, coast guard, First Nations and random boaters who say they’re not allowed to have their float home in this area or close to that beach.
Some of it is out of concern for safety, while with others it’s an outright “not in my backyard” attitude, said Philip Hathaway. More recently, they’ve become concerned about threats from intoxicated youth who want to sink their boat and beat them up.
“It’s like you’re constantly living in a war just trying to survive,” said Philip, 53. “I’ll tell ya, it gets tiring, this whole feeling of being attacked.
“Just trying to take a shower or get water, we have to be careful on where we land the boat … if it’s on private property, we don’t want to trespass. Even when it’s a public beach, we get people telling us ‘you can’t beach here’ … even when there’s canoes or kayaks already there.”
And now there’s added urgency to find a more stable home.
Sonja, 39, is nearly two months pregnant, and winter rains and storms will soon be on their way after a prolonged summer.
Hathaway said he submitted an application for emergency housing in April 2020, but was told the paperwork was given directly to a non-profit housing provider, and hadn’t made it to B.C. Housing.
He had to file again directly to the provincial government’s supportive housing agency.
The couple have been waiting for an opening ever since, willing to take anything — even on the Lower Mainland — if it means they will be safe and their child can be born in a healthy environment.
B.C. Housing confirmed in a statement that it had received an online application for its housing registry from Hathaway on March 30.
The agency oversees two registries — one for people in search of affordable rental housing and another for those at risk of or experiencing homelessness who require housing with supports, but it said in a statement that housing demand far exceeds availability across the province, including on Vancouver Island.
It said subsidized housing is based on need, not length of time on a wait list. “This includes seniors, low-income single parents and their children and low-income individuals with physical or mental disabilities,” the statement said.
How quickly an applicant gets housing depends on unit turnover and the needs of all other applicants in the database, said B.C. Housing, adding priority is given to those over 55, people on disability pensions, families with children and people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.
“As such, it is difficult for us to predict the length of time Mr. Hathaway and his wife will wait for housing,” said the statement. “Given [their] precarious housing situation, we are encouraging them to apply for the supportive housing registry so that we can assess if they would qualify.”
The Hathaways have been without stable housing for years, first living in a van until too many tickets and impounds forced them to sell it.
They also lived in a tent for nearly a year, initially in Topaz Park, and then in a makeshift shelter built with Styrofoam, planks, cardboard and tarps at Holland Point in James Bay, where it was carefully camouflaged in bushes along Dallas Road.
“We just couldn’t live like that anymore … like animals in the woods,” said Hathaway. “Once bylaw finds you, you have to take your shelters down every morning.”
That’s when he decided to build a boat.
They couple bought and collected all the items they needed over several weeks: lumber, big blue recycling bins and large empty water bottles, rope and plywood, tubular metal used in street signs — and eventually a new propane-powered outboard motor.
They carried everything piece by piece up the Galloping Goose Trail into Langford and over Skirt Mountain to a secluded area in Goldstream Park on the Saanich Inlet.
Hathaway, who previously worked in the trades, built what he sees as a very “seaworthy vessel” in four sections weighing about 800 pounds. Sliding sections on angle irons allow the couple to expand the platform of the vessel, and stand-up recycling bins provide storage for food, clothing and other supplies.
The couple set sail on Saanich Inlet and tried anchoring in various bays on their way north, but were told to move on by authorities, boaters or property owners.
The estuary of the Campbell River has been their longest haven, but not without problems.
Last weekend, RCMP in Campbell River issued warnings about intoxicated teens inciting violence against the homeless population — estimated to be more than 150 people living without permanent housing, according to homeless advocates in the community.
“I’ve been threatened,” says Hathaway. “They say ‘Get the [expletive] out of here or I’ll sink your boat.’
“We’re just looking for a place to hunker down for the winter right now, and find a place we can tie to shore for [pre-natal] appointments and to just get food and water.”
Hathaway said he wants to work, but needs stable housing to get his footing again. He’s worked in construction, marketing and computer programming in the past, and wants to put his design and building skills to work.
“You can’t get on your feet if you’re just trying to survive day to day,” he said.
Hathaway said he recently approached a property manager who was looking for a painter to do several apartments, but was told he needed a business licence and liability insurance.
Hathaway has owned property in the past, inheriting a family home that was sold and split by siblings, and then buying a home with his former wife in Nanaimo. But a divorce and legal proceedings left him with little, and eventually on the street.
He said the provincial and federal governments have to build more housing. “That’s the bottom line,” he said. “There just isn’t enough of it for people who need it. Just look at the streets. They’re full of people with nowhere to go.”
Hathaway said the couple receive about $1,400 a month in welfare, but the money doesn’t go far even with subsidized housing, as more than half would be taken by rent, leaving little for food and other expenses.
Current market rents are far beyond what social assistance would provide. Rentals.ca said in a September report the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Victoria is $2,098 a month.
Hathaway is also concerned about his wife, Sonja, who lost a baby two years ago to miscarriage and needs to be safe, healthy and well-cared for in a home, not a boat. “She’s feeling OK right now, but there’s always that stress of ‘do we have to leave now?’ Are we under attack from somebody? That can be pretty devastating.”
But there have been good moments for the couple.
They’ve enjoyed sailing aboard the new home, seeing many parts of the Island, and they’ve seen the good in people along the way, as well.
In May, they married on a beach at Campbell River, hiring a city official to tie the knot, and asking random dog walkers to be witnesses.
“I just asked a guy if he would be my best man,” said Hathaway. “He said: ‘Really, I’d be proud to, man.’ That was great.”
dkloster@timescolonist.com
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