Elaine Lethbridge, seen here with her son, has been trying to find an affordable place to stay for four months. (CBC)

A government program that is supposed to help low-income earners find affordable housing in the St. John's area is not working, a single mother says.

At least 600 names are on the regional waiting list for subsidized apartments, while an economic boom fuelled largely by the offshore oil industry has led to a housing market with a near-zero vacancy rate for renters.

While public housing units are fully occupied, the provincial government has tried to ease the crunch with a subsidy offer.

But Elaine Lethbridge, a single mother living in Mount Pearl with her son, said she has hit a brick wall. She has spent the last four months sleeping on a sofa at her mother's home.

"I've been told that I could qualify for a rent subsidy, where I could go through a private landlord and the housing [office] could subsidize the rent up to $800," she said.

Instead, she has been unable to find any landlords willing to take the government up on its offer. In fact, she said she rarely hears back from them at all.

"[I would like] even just a call back to say we rented out the place to someone else, you know, just out of decency," she said.

Lethbridge is convinced she is being shut out because of the subsidy, and that landlords do not want to handle tenants who receive social assistance.

"And I'm not the only one," she told CBC News. "I'm sure there's other people here in St. John's going through the exact same thing."

NDP Leader Lorraine Michael, who sponsored a public forum in St. John's this week on housing issues, said plenty of other people are in the same boat.

She said there needs to be a renewed commitment to making housing affordable in the city area, particularly as the region enjoys the prosperity of the offshore oil industry.

"We also need new housing. The numbers that the budgets have been allowing for are insufficient," Michael said.