It was supposed to be a safe, affordable home for Ontarians with nowhere else to go. But inside, it was horrifying.
For seven years, Amanda Mactaggart and her three children — ranging from 12 months to 9 years — lived in a series of trailers at a campground outside of Toronto that was supposed to provide carefree summers with some down time for her children.
The family lived under the same roof as two dogs, four large cats, and numerous rats.
“Everyone had very good feelings about this place,” Mactaggart said.
At the end of the season, she and the others in the campground were told they would get the last of their money, the family had to leave.
It wasn’t their fault. Someone stole their savings and donated it to the campground.
They were just used to having so much love. It was hard even to describe. – Amanda Mactaggart
Mactaggart said the campground had never made their financial situation clear.
So Mactaggart and her children started looking for a new place to live. Mactaggart said they went to the Salvation Army, and a friend of hers was offered a place.
On Christmas Eve 2017, Mactaggart’s friend’s father died and their belongings were on their way to Toronto to be given to the Salvation Army. Mactaggart said she and her children packed them up and headed to Kingston.
A week after they arrived, the landlord told her the campground wasn’t going to be taken over.
Instead, Mactaggart was sent to a house in a trailer park near Toronto.
‘It’s just a house, nothing like what had been promised’
The house in the trailer park. (Mactaggart Family/Instagram)
She shared with CBC Toronto how her family had been promised a place to live, with a place to call home and the financial stability promised to her and her children.
“And I didn’t live here. If the housing had been a house like what had been promised to me, I wouldn’t be speaking to you,” she said.
When Mactaggart arrived the