When you live in a city as expensive as Vancouver, payroll issues can escalate into major problems pretty quickly.

Just ask Paul Botha, who is one of the 22,000 public servants still affected by unresolved glitches with the federal government's Phoenix payroll system.

Botha, a 36-year-old Parks Canada employee, is owed more than $3,000 in back pay, and he's about to miss rent for the second month in a row.

"I'm living paycheque to paycheque. I've sold stuff to try and keep up," Botha said. "I feel like I'm living a nightmare."

He received an eviction notice after his October rent cheque bounced, but explained his situation to his building manager, who was understanding and gave him some leeway. Unfortunately, with November just hours away, Botha said he's been told he only has a couple more days to pay up.

"I'm not really looking forward to looking for a new apartment right now, especially when I have no down payment for a deposit," he said.

"All my savings are gone. I've had to extend my credit card limits, which are now maxed out, so I have bills that are coming out every month."

Monday was the federal government's self-imposed deadline to clear the backlog of problems caused by its troubled Phoenix system, which originally left about 82,000 employees underpaid, overpaid or not paid at all.

About 60,000 of those situations have been resolved, Ottawa revealed at a press conference announcing the deadline would not be met, but it's unclear how long it will take to clear out the rest.

“I want you to know that we will continue to work tirelessly to close the remaining cases as quickly as we can,” Marie Lemay, deputy minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada, told reporters.

That's cold comfort to Botha, however, who still has no indication of when, or if, his next paycheque will come. He recently took to social media asking if anyone had odd jobs he can work in a desperate attempt to make ends meet.

"It's very dehumanizing and demoralizing," he said.

Issues with Phoenix, which was supposed to modernize the government's antiquated system and save $70 million a year, started popping up shortly after it was launched in February.

On Monday morning, public service employees rallied outside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office in Ottawa trying to pressure the government to fix the system. Some carried signs that read "Haunted by Phoenix."

With a report from CTV Vancouver's Scott Roberts