We had a similiar situation but it`s slowly working it`s way out. It was a little frustrating, but I think it will work out in the end. I maybe considered a soft heart, but I also saw my tenant as a long term asset. I realize I woudn`t have been so understanding if I hadn`t taken a bit of time to get to know her and assess what kind of person she is.
Our tenant and her common law husband and kids moved in in Sept. Her band pays part of the rent as an off reserve allowance as she is waiting to have a house built for her and her family on the reserve. The band paid 1500 of the 1850 rent and the utilities. The common law husband paid the balance of the rent.
In December, he got kicked out of the house (she has strong behavior rules for what is acceptable around children), so in December we received 1500. When child tax came in on Dec 20, we received the next 350. In January, it is the same case but in the mean time there has been talks with the band as she trying to house 4 children. As of Feb 1, the band is covering $1800 and $50 is coming on Feb 20 and as of March 1 we will have post dated chqs of $50 at the start of the month. All utilities are covered by the band so there are no worries there.
I was willing to do this because: 1) she keeps the house immaculate (we saw that after the first few months) 2) she has decided to go back to school to better herself so she can get a job (and not just rely on the band) 3) she will be potentially be in the house for 2-3 years before she can have her house build.
PS...maybe I`ll become more hard nosed as the years go on. We just started in 2008, but we are finding tenants/clients are resigning just because of the way we`ve been treating them.
Susan