B.C. funds 280 homes for women, children in danger

The B.C. government is funding hundreds of new homes for women and children fleeing violence, a lifeline social agencies say could prevent women from returning to abusive relationships.

“The reality is homelessness for many women with children is a critical factor in their decision to return to an abusive relationship,” said Makenna Rielly, executive director of the Victoria Women’s Transition House Society.

The Langford-based non-profit is one of 12 social agencies across the province sharing $90 million in government funding to create 280 units of housing for victims of domestic abuse.

Fifty of those housing units will be on Vancouver Island. The money will fund 20 “second-stage” housing units at the Victoria Women’s Transition House Society in Langford, 20 second-stage units at the Alberni Community and Women’s Services Society in Port Alberni and 10 transition house beds for Indigenous women and children at the Snuneymuxw Youth and Family Society in Nanaimo.

Second-stage units are longer-term housing units that provide support beyond the 30-day emergency transition beds provided to women when they first flee an abusive partner. At the Victoria Women’s Transition House, women and children can live in second-stage housing for up to 18 months.

The Victoria Women’s Transition House Society currently provides 18 emergency shelter beds and has a 23-unit longer-term facility for women over 40.

Rielly, who has worked in the non-profit sector for 30 years, said this is the largest investment for victims of domestic violence in decades.

Mitzi Dean, MLA for EsquimaltMetchosin and parliamentary secretary for gender equity, echoed that view.

“There hasn’t been an investment in supports for women who have been surviving domestic violence for more than 16 years,” she said. A former executive director of the Pacific Centre Family Services Association, Dean spent 30 years working in the social services sector.

Candace Stretch, manager of supportive housing and family services at the Cridge Centre for the Family, said the agency has a huge list of women waiting for longerterm housing options. The Cridge has 46 housing units for women fleeing domestic violence, 25 of which are second-stage housing.

Stretch said the funding will help make women safer. “This particular population, if we can find housing for them, it decreases their chance of going back into the cycle of abuse,” he said.

The funding is part of the government’s Women’s Transition Housing Fund, which will invest $734 million over 10 years to build 1,500 transition homes, second-stage housing and affordable housing for women and children fleeing violence, said Premier John Horgan.

“Women’s transition housing is an integral part of how we can make our community stronger and ensure that women and children can have a place to go; they do not have to stay in abusive relationships,” Horgan said.