STAFFING ISSUES
Co-ed facility will be double-staffed but shelter for abused women and their children isn’t
Homeless shelter will be safer than Transition House.
The head of a local refuge for abused women and their children says a new shelter for homeless men and women will be safer than her facility.
Transition House executive director Helen Morrison told the Cape Breton Post that while she’s happy Sydney will be getting a new 14-bed co-ed shelter, the amount of provincial funding — $618,000 annually — surprised her, particularly the fact it will help pay for at least two people working around the clock.
She said the budget for Transition House’s 20-bed shelter in downtown Sydney hasn’t increased in several years and they can’t afford to pay two staff members at all times, despite the fact many of their residents are fleeing violent situations.
“We haven’t had an increase in our operational budget in a long time and everything is going through the roof — food, electricity, oil — it all rises every year and we don’t get the kind of operational increases to offset that,” said Morrison. “And also, doublestaffing because it’s a safety issue. We are double-staffed from midnight until 6 a.m. and for the rest of the day we are single-staffed in the shelter. We not only work with homeless women, but we work with women who are suffering abuse, and there’s safety issues there. And then to hear that a co-ed shelter is being built and they are going to be doublestaffed 24-7, it was just a little bit of a surprise.”
Morrison’s comments come after Raylene Theriault, a co-ordinator for the Every Woman’s Centre, said she was “blindsided” by Monday’s announcement that the province will provide the Cape Breton Community Housing Association with $618,000 annually to operate the new 14-bed facility. The association will also receive $134,000 this winter so it can extend its emergency services to include women.
Theriault, who was pivotal in opening Almost Home, Sydney’s first shelter for women, said the six-bed facility only receives about $8,000 a year from the provincial government.
Morrison said it seems like the province is overlooking the work done by the Every Woman’s Centre and Transition House. “On the overall I see this as a positive but I also think that they can’t forget about the other agencies and organizations in the community who have been doing the work for a long time and continue to do the work, and will continue to do the work,” she said. “I would never say I’m disappointed about this because I think that any resources that we get in this area, especially for those that are homeless, that’s what we want in our community is to be able to help and embrace those who are experiencing these kinds of circumstances that are horrific for them. I embrace it but I also was surprised by the announcement.”
Morrison also wondered about the dynamics at a shelter for both men and women, many of whom have experienced abuse.
“It will be interesting to see how women react to being in a co-ed shelter, but we will only know in time.”
Cape Breton Community Housing Association executive director Fred Deveaux did not want to comment Tuesday on Theriault’s concerns. The Post also reached out to Sydney-Whitney Pier MLA Derek Mombourquette, who made Monday’s announcement on behalf of Community Services Minister Kelly Regan, but did not receive a response by press time.