Help Malcolm and Leach Reach Their New Home

Hi, we’re Malcolm and Leach, a married couple living in Toronto with our cat Victor.

We’re close to finally getting out of a difficult housing situation after struggling with repeated infestations that have damaged our health. A new home for us is almost in reach: the last hurdle is our financial tie to our current roommate, to whom we owe money that needs to be paid by September 11, 2024.

When we moved into our current apartment in December 2020, we weren’t informed beforehand of the significant pest issues in the unit: mice, roaches, and most significantly, bedbugs. The bedbug infestation became so severe that we were losing significant amounts of blood, and our immune systems were compromised during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. At times, the infestation was so bad that steaming cracks in the wall paint in an attempt to kill the bedbugs caused a dark-brown mixture of bedbug feces and blood to stream from the walls like something out of a horror movie. These constant attacks on our immune systems further complicated and prolonged the recovery process when Leach was diagnosed with and treated for early-stage cancer in March 2022—meaning a prolonged period in which they were unable to work. We spent significant time and energy seeking out provincial services such as the Toronto Rent Bank, but were turned away despite meeting their criteria published online.

After a long and expensive immigration process since our marriage on March 21, 2018, Malcolm finally obtained his Canadian Work Permit on June 1 of this year, and has several promising leads on jobs that would start in the next few months. This will finally allow us to transition into a new, healthier living situation, independent from our current roommate. But the timeline for Malcolm’s upcoming employment isn’t fast enough for our roommate’s payment deadline, and we need assistance to bridge that gap, allowing us to properly settle our debt and start fresh. Despite the infestation being treated- at least for now- the lingering trauma has manifested in nightmares and sleep problems, and we want to be out of this place and into a new environment as soon as possible.

Any assistance will help us to settle our debt so that we can make a new start for our little family. Thank you so much for reading and contributing.

To give you an idea of how bad the bedbug situation was and how long we were dealing with it, here are a couple of pictures from the past few years showing the extent of the bites.