New day shelter keeps women from “slipping between the cracks”
VANCOUVER, BC—The Union Gospel Mission's new day shelter for homeless women in the Downtown Eastside is already helping about a dozen of them to make fresh start.
"For the most part, they've been saying it means they are keeping out of trouble during the day," says manager Barbara Atkins. "We have three who are working on staying clean and sober, who said they could not do that if they were out on the streets."
The shelter, which opened its doors for the first time on February 6, is located in UGM's former headquarters. When the ministry moved into a new facility nearby in May, the building was rededicated as a Women and Families Centre.
During its first week, the 12-bed, high-security shelter was already operating at near-capacity. So far, all of the women have come from an emergency women's night shelter.
"The problem is that there isn't enough 24-hour shelter in the neighbourhood," says Atkins. "At nine a.m., the night shelter was putting them out on the streets, because they had no choice. So then a woman has to fend for herself out there with nowhere to go and nothing to do until the shelter opens its doors again at six p.m."
Besides meals, the women can fill their day with art therapy, counselling, chapel time, crafts and special events. There are also various after school activities for children.
The women are offered what is called a "wraparound" team approach to wellness.
"This approach was designed because people were slipping between the cracks," Atkins says. "The clients get to identify their supports, but they're not all government or agency supports. They can be their pastor or grandmother, for example. And then we work with them for holistic transformation."
In the entire Downtown Eastside, there are only 114 shelter beds for women compared to around 400 homeless women—an estimate that Atkins suspects is low, for two reasons.
"One is they're the invisible homeless, because they often find a relative or a new boyfriend or a father-figure or somebody who can take them in," she says. "The other is that there are now more homeless women, according to the homeless counts. Since 2005, it's been an increasing number."
The initial vision for the centre was that it would offer treatment programs for women with children as well as shelter. But that plan has been pushed back, due to a lack of funds to complete the necessary retrofits.
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