We need a Women’s Shelter

We have seen a lot of discussion about the need for a women’s shelter in northern York Region and now things are beginning to gel so that it may become a reality soon.  A blue ribbon committee is at work to determine the best way to solve the problem. It’s a project that I feel is important. 

I need your thoughts, your ideas and your help.

From its very beginning, Roxanne and I have been volunteers at the INN FROM THE COLD. For more than five years, we have witnessed the need for people to find shelter at the INN simply because they have no place to stay and because they otherwise wouldn’t be able to survive our bitter winter nights. These are people who have no options, and often no hope, and whose circumstances force them to make choices that many of us have not had to make.

As much as we would like to think that homelessness is a “Toronto” and not a York Region problem, the reality is that it exists here as much as anywhere else in the GTA. The sad, sorry truth is that as affluent as York Region is, the cost of living here is increasingly beyond the means of many. Our affordable housing programs have an eight year waiting list, however the waiting period more than doubles to twenty years for homeless women.

Another reality is that women right here in Newmarket are at one of the highest levels of women at risk in the Region (2%), with the second highest being women in Richmond Hill(1.6%).  For Newmarket, it means that as many as 1,600 women are at risk of being homeless.

As a volunteer for Victim’s Services, Roxanne has also seen too many situations where women have endured years of abuse, because for too long they believed they had nowhere to turn for help. Many women’s shelters, like the Yellow Brick House or Sandgate, are struggling with capacity issues.  Unfortunately, as many as 400 women are turned away annually, because they don’t meet the criteria that these centres or family shelters have in place, because these facilities can only help the most urgent.

As a member of the Community Services & Housing Committee at York Region, I was happy to see the Region provide funding for a needs assessment and feasibility study through its Community Development Investment Fund.

For a number of years, helping homeless women get a new start on life has been a priority for Belinda Stronach. With her support as our Honourary Chair, we have created an advisory committee to Blue Door Shelters, a 27 –year-old locally based, non-profit which provides emergency shelter for the homeless, has been established.  It includes community leaders, business representatives and other stakeholders, and it has set out to address concerns about homeless women in our community by identifying their needs and formulating options to assist them. I am a member of that committee. We are exploring the different roles we can play to move forward to provide homeless women with safe shelter and to offer life-changing services that promote stability, dignity, and self-reliance.

We would like to offer you an opportunity to find out more about Homelessness for Women and how our community can respond. For more information please follow this link: http://bluedoorshelters.ca/news.htm

Please give me the benefit of your views, your ideas and your comments.