Not long after Bernice Earle started her job at the Mokami Status of Women Council, she and her coworkers made an astonishing discovery, which made her understand just how bad homelessness was in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
She had just started as a housing support worker with Mokami, a new position that at the time involved readying eight soon-to-open apartments for tenants who might otherwise be homeless. Assembling furniture took up much of her time.
It was early 2013 and the housing crisis had reached a boiling point in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Rental prices shot up with the sanctioning of Muskrat Falls and local anticipation of an economic boom. An emergency shelter was still years away.
One cold morning when there was still snow on the ground, Earle's colleagues found two women sleeping in a dumpster outside their own office.
"It was scary back then because I'd never, ever seen homelessness. It was just a new thing to me," Earle said.
"We knew that something had to be done, and had to be done fast."
It was a blunt reminder for Earle and her colleagues that the work they were doing was urgent.
"I didn't know it was so desperate," said housing support worker Janet Newman. "People needed help."
Now, five years later, Mokami's supportive-living apartments are a crucial piece of a growing network of affordable housing options, giving shelter to single women who are battling addiction and trauma.
House rules
There are a few requirements for prospective residents: they have to be homeless women and they have to be willing to work on themselves. One-on-one and group counselling sessions are mandatory.
Women aren't allowed to drink or use drugs in the apartment building, and they're not allowed to come home intoxicated, either, Earle says.
I didn't know it was so desperate. People needed help.- Janet Newman
It's a rule that makes both residents and staff feel safer, Newman said.
"Because they know that if they're going to go out and they're going to get drunk that they have to have a plan," she said.
"So they're happy to have those boundaries."
Earle and Newman are glowing about their residents. Like proud parents, they rattled off accomplishments: some earned their high school diplomas or found steady work; at least two moms have been reunited with children in foster care.
"We have one resident that has totally, 100 per cent, turned her life around like you wouldn't believe," Earle said.
She described the woman as someone who'd become isolated from her family after a years-long strained relationship.
"She's with her family and turned her life right around," Earle said.
Newman added, "There's times she's working two jobs, she's got her licence, she bought herself a car. Every one of the residents here has moved forward, but she's exceptional."
'This kind of saved me'
The housing support program has changed Earle's life, too.
Before clinching the job in late 2012, Earle was on social assistance. Months earlier she had left a bad relationship and was struggling to support her two children.
"This kind of saved me," she said.
"I had a really rough upbringing. I went through the abuse and all that kind of stuff, as a child and as an adult," Earle explained.
"I had that kind of thing, the experience to offer.… I'd understand more, because I knew what they were going through."
Two residents who did not wish to be interviewed said living at Mokami had helped them immensely in staying sober. Those kinds of changes are immensely rewarding, said Newman.
"These are people that when they moved in, they walked with their head down and they couldn't look you in the eyes, and they were just carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders," she said.
"Now, they're having good days, and they come in and they appreciate you.… they'll say, "Good morning, I love you, have a good day.'"
More work to do
Earle says the landscape for housing options has changed drastically since 2013. Other organizations like Libra House and the Nunatsiavut government have also opened supportive-living apartment complexes. An emergency shelter opened in 2016.
I don't think our work will ever be done. We've just got to keep our doors open.- Bernice Earle
One of the two women found sleeping in a dumpster moved in the Mokami apartment complex as soon as it opened. She's still there, five years later.
As far as Earle and Newman know, the other woman is still homeless and spends many nights in the shelter.
"I don't think our work will ever be done," Earle said. "We've just got to keep our doors open."