A standard bedroom in Interval House for abused women and their children.
[Photo Courtesy of Interval House]
By Fangliang Xu
The number of shelters available for abused women has consistently increased over time in Canada, but local shelters say the space is still limited in Ottawa.
According to Statistics Canada, the number has increased by almost six times between 1975 and 2010 across the country. There were 593 shelters were in operation in 2010.
The number of beds available to clients has also increased – there was a seven percent increase in bed availability between 2008 and 2010.
However, the beds are still not enough, at least not in Ottawa. Women and children are routinely turned away due to lack of available space, according to Interval House, one of the seven main local shelters for abused woman in the capital city.
“‘I have tried every other shelters. I need a place to go. You are my last call.’ We sometimes get phone calls like this, and it’s really heartbreaking,” says Lula Adams, the volunteer coordinator of Interval House, “But we have to say, ‘We are sorry. Let’s call the city.’ ”
“It is typically full this year,” Adams says. She has been working in Interval House for almost ten years.
According to the shelter’s data, last year alone, Interval House accommodated 96 women and 194 children after receiving 1,792 crisis calls. However, it had to turn away 289 women and their children.
Adams says at least these women whom they turned away won’t get stuck. The city is obligated to take them into a hotel while she is waiting for the next bed available in a shelter. A transitional support worker is also sent to help her during her stay in the hotel.
However, hotels are public space with less security compared to shelters. An appointment needs to be made when any woman wants to see a transitional support worker, which is unlike a shelter in which help is always available.
“It’s just not an ideal situation for them,” Adams says, “not to mention women still need to take care of themselves, for example, cook for themselves, even they are already under huge stress and pressure.”
“It’s shocking,” Adams says there are fewer than 150 beds for abused women and their children available in Ottawa. “It is not enough for a city like Ottawa.”
The 30-year-old shelter now has ten units and it can accommodate 30 women and their children.
Adams says the shelter’s front-line workers do assessment before they accept any women. They talk to the woman who calls the crisis line, and ascertain whether she is no longer safe in her home. Those women who came usually stay there 12 to 14 weeks before they move into transition housing.
Having limited space isn’t a new problem this year – it has been an issue for local shelters for the past five years.
Another shelter in Ottawa, maison d’amitié, had to refuse 1,925 woman and children in 2009, and they turned away 1,811 women and children in 2010, according to the report by Holly Johnson, a professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of Ottawa.
“There is still a greater number of demand of using shelters than the supply,” says Erin Leigh, the executive director of Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women. “Some of the women need to go away and just go to other shelters, which are not specifically designed for women.”
“We know the violence is happening a lot. Ottawa Police received 4,500 calls and reports on domestic violence last year, and 3,000 of them got investigated,” Leigh says. “And the number is just the tip of the iceberg; more abused women in Ottawa need help.”
“‘I have tried every other shelters. I need a place to go. You are my last call.’ We sometimes get phone calls like this, and it’s really heartbreaking,” says Lula Adams, the volunteer coordinator of Interval House, “But we have to say, ‘We are sorry. Let’s call the city.’ ”
Although the city still has its own budget to help those who can use the shelter due to the limited space, all the shelters for abused women are mainly funded by the Ministry of Community and Social Service from the province.
Adams says in an ideal world there would be no need for shelters at all.
“Unfortunately that’s not the reality,” she says. “We do need funding for more beds, and much more funding for education and awareness to stop violence from happening.”
“But when we asked the Ministry for more funding to expand our service, they said they had no money,” Adams says.
“Violence is not something we can solve overnight,” says Leigh. “We need both support from all the shelters and prevention. We can’t do one without the other.”
Bailey Reid, the founder of the volunteer organization Sisters Achieving Excellence, also a member of sexual assault network, also says what’s more important is the prevention, then shelters can be not full all the time.
“One way of prevention is talking to men,” she says. “In the 70s, it was seen as women’s issue. We have to let men have conversation with younger men about rape culture, about consent. When men talk to men, they have a special voice from a man’s perspective.”
“Shifting the individual woman’s responsibility to stay safe to everyone’s responsibility to prevent the violence from happening,” Leigh says.
