Shelter executive finds out what it’s like to survive in a motel
Lady Laforet and her two young daughters are spending a few nights in a motel, but this far from a vacation.
The executive director of the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families is getting a first-hand look at what it’s like for the desperate women and single mothers her organization serves. Laforet is bringing along her daughters, Delilah 5, and Lelaina, 7, in the twin hopes of raising socially conscious kids and getting a child’s eye view of what it’s like in the shelter system.
“I imagine that taking me and my rowdy two kids and throwing them in a 250-square-foot motel room for a few days without any money and without a car, and with a lot of stress, is probably going to be pretty difficult,” said Laforet, after going through the intake process at the Bridge Street welcome centre. The plan is to shed some light on what the agency does, and to educate the public that these shelter motel stays are not vacations, she said. Laforet will also be meeting with families in the motels to make sure the centre is giving them what they want and need.
For many years, the centre has been helping people experiencing homelessness without an actual shelter to do it. The centre supports women sheltered at local hotels by the city.
The dream, said Laforet, is to move into a larger, permanent shelter location where families can be supported 24 hours a day instead of having them isolated in motel rooms.
“For a lot of the families it looks like one small room, not a lot to do, not a lot of toys, a lot of stress, and calling and trying to find housing in this market that we know is very tight right now.”
Until the centre can find a larger location, it helps people housed in the motels get their kids to school, navigate the process of finding permanent homes, and accessing other social services.
The centre will support more than 400 families by the end of this year, mostly single moms with multiple children. About 42 per cent of the people receiving short-term emergency shelter are kids aged 15 and under.
She said there are many reasons people land at the centre’s doorstep, including financial crisis, evictions or lack of housing, and “family relationship breakdown” such as domestic violence. The motels used as temporary shelter are at capacity. To avoid taking a room from someone who really needs it, Laforet is staying at a similar motel within walking distance so she can still have the experience and meet with shelter recipients.
After going through the intake process, Laforet and her kids climbed on a city bus Wednesday with a few small bags and rode to the motel. She will stay there until Friday evening with no money and no car while trying to get her kids to school, search for housing and access services.
“There are still lots of families who are waiting for all those longterm solutions to come to fruition,” said Laforet. “But tonight they still need someone to talk to, housing support, a space for their kids to play, a bit of a break from the stress of looking for housing every day by yourself. We just want to take away some of the mystery that surrounds what exactly the shelter is about and see that it can actually be a very supportive place if we set the system up that way.” Laforet will be giving social media updates on how things are going. Search for #1smallroom and #welcomecentreshelter.