Updated: Tara and Grace Dizdar have been housed in a two-bedroom suite in Abbotsford for comparable rent, thanks to Ravens Moon Resource Society.
Previous: An Abbotsford family that had picked themselves up out of homelessness is worried they're going to end up homeless again after a fire ripped through their building.
Tim and Tara Dizdar are worried about how they're going to find another home for themselves and their nine-month-old daughter Grace with rents climbing in Abbotsford -- as they are through much of the Lower Mainland.
"We've found it so hard to get our life off the street, start over. We've had help from our doctor and our church and now we have nothing," Tara told CTV News, as crews picked through what was left of the family's apartment.
Tim and Tara's basement suite was wrecked by flames, then damaged by water, on Tuesday after they said their landlord's hot plate shorted, lighting a propane tank on fire.
The tank exploded, and soon the entire back half of the large house on Thurston Drive was in flames.
The Dizdars are thankful they weren't home when the fire started. When they got a call the property was burning, they rushed home to see fire trucks and firefighters battling the blaze.
They were allowed in two days later, and Tim said the suite was barely recognizable.
"It's like a hurricane came through my living room and bedroom," he said.
The pair were homeless and addicted before Tara gave birth to Grace. That's when they decided to get their lives together.
They paid $750 a month for the suite, but did not buy renters' insurance.
Tara is now on disability assistance, and Tim said he's trying to get training to start work in B.C.'s north. The pair's doctor vouched for their honest efforts.
Emergency Social Services has put them up in a hotel until Monday, but after that they are on their own.
"Are we going to be on the street again because of the rental prices? There's nothing out there," Tara said.
She said she can only afford to pay $750 in rent per month, with the disability rental supplement of $550 for Tara and her child, and then kicking in some extra money.
CTV News looked online and found just one bachelor suite available for $750 in Abbotsford. Rents are rising in that city and across the region -- one facet of a housing crisis the Vancouver area is facing.
Ward Draper of Five and Two Ministries told CTV News it's going to be hard to find a place to live in Abbotsford for that price.
"It's a tragic situation highlighting how valuable what little affordable housing we have is," he said.
Draper arrived at the site to swap information and try to get the couple in touch with various agencies that might put them in a new home.
He said the city has to take drastic action to increase the housing supply so that rents fall and a family isn't just one accident away from being homeless.
Deputy Mayor Patricia Ross told CTV News the city is developing 500 rental units in a handful of new buildings, but said it takes time.
"It can't come fast enough but we're facilitating them as fast as we can," she said.
