Mr. Speaker, back in September, I asked the government a question about the lack of shelter space for women fleeing violence. I pointed out that one of the reasons was the lack of affordable housing in communities right across Canada. I had cited my meeting with shelter providers from Alberta where I had learned how difficult a situation the lack of affordable housing presents for women fleeing violence in their communities.

My question was to point out to the government that we need to not only build shelters for women and children fleeing violence but to also ensure that once safe and supported in a shelter environment, women and children have community options for affordable housing. At present, this is not the reality for many communities where shelters are operating at capacity because there is no affordable housing, and women and their families cannot access the safety of a shelter when fleeing domestic violence. The government needs to step up and connect some dots. Many of us thought that the national housing strategy would do just that: make the connections between shelter and housing, especially when it comes to those most vulnerable, like women and children fleeing violence.

Women and children fleeing abuse are among the most vulnerable people in our community. When shelters are full, they are left with a choice that really is not a choice, which is trying to stay safe in an unsafe situation. An internal status of women report last year noted that the rates of violence against women have not diminished over time, and that gender-based violence remains pervasive in Canada. It found that indigenous women and those in the north are particularly vulnerable.

According to Lise Martin, the executive director of the Canadian Network of Women's Shelters and Transition Houses, which conducted the survey, “By the time a woman goes to a shelter, it’s often a last resort. It’s rare that a woman will show up on the doorstep of a shelter where it’s a first incident or she hasn’t tried different alternatives.”

According to the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, of the 35,000 Canadians who are homeless on any given night in Canada, 27% are women and 18% are young people. On any given day in Canada, more than 3,000 women are living in emergency shelters to escape domestic violence. On one typical day last year, 460 women and children across Canada sought shelter to escape violence. However, of that total, shelters were forced to turn away 73% of those in need due to a lack of resources and capacity. Yet, the national housing strategy only aims to reduce chronic homelessness by 50% over 10 years, and that is just not enough.

As far as connecting the dots is concerned, introducing a housing benefit now would have been a game-changer for women and children fleeing violence. It very well could be the difference between affording a safe place to live or having no choice but to remain in a shelter, or worse, to remain living in an unsafe situation.

We have a housing crisis in Canada now. We need more affordable housing now. We need our federal government to do a better job of connecting the dots when it comes to shelters for women and children, safe and affordable housing, and truly tackling domestic violence in Canada. Why is the government waiting?

Sheri Benson

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