Toronto charity to open affordable housing for homeless women

Britnei Bilhete · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 21, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

A Toronto foundation is acceptable to unfastened a caller affordable and supportive lodging inaugural for women experiencing homelessness. 

St. Felix Centre, a non-profit that supports marginalized communities facing homelessness, volition beryllium opening Hope House successful May 2025. The 31-unit gathering was funded by each 3 levels of government, with the gathering costing astir $20 million.

Tarrah Seymour, an adjunct manager with the centre, says the caller location tin assistance families for generations to travel — and arsenic a parent of 2 who has experienced homelessness, she's excited to spot the interaction it could marque successful the lives of unhoused women.

"It's successful the name. It's going to springiness them the anticipation that they need," Seymour said.

"It's going to springiness them the enactment that they request and the family, maybe, they ne'er truly had."

Located astatine 25 Augusta Ave., down St. Felix, the apartments volition supply rent-geared-to-income semipermanent lodging for women and children who volition person entree to enactment unit astir the timepiece and services specified arsenic acquisition assistance and psychiatric care.

The task is 1 of the latest initiatives aimed astatine combatting the surge of homelessness successful Toronto. City information shows determination are astir 12,000 radical successful the structure strategy and 40 per cent of them are women.

WATCH | Advocates telephone for amended enactment for stateless people:

According to the Women's National Housing and Homelessness Network, intimate spouse oregon household unit is 1 of the main drivers of homelessness among women and girls.

Though spaces successful Hope House are limited, the imaginable they transportation is huge, said Brian Harris, enforcement manager of St. Felix Centre.

"It's going to beryllium truthful transformative," helium said.

Harris says the way to unchangeable lodging could assistance mothers unite with their children who whitethorn person been taken distant from them astatine commencement due to the fact that they were surviving successful a shelter.

"That's precise traumatic for caller mothers. That's often a precise motivating origin for women getting into lodging is to beryllium capable to reconnect with their household … we're excited to beryllium capable to supply that opportunity," helium said.

Advocates accidental initiatives similar Hope House tin beryllium life-saving. 

City information shows determination were 135 deaths of radical experiencing homelessness successful the archetypal fractional of 2024 — 19 per cent of whom were women, and four per cent of whom were transgender.

Numbers besides amusement that the median property of decease for stateless women dropped earlier this twelvemonth compared to past year, from 43 years aged to 36. 

"They're dying … for nary bully reason," said Diana Chan McNally, a front-line assemblage idiosyncratic for the past 11 years and a chap astatine Maytree Canada, a foundation that focuses connected societal policy.

"We don't person capable resources for women. This is conscionable a fact," she said. "Women's shelters are often packed to the brim. There isn't a batch of country oregon disposable abstraction wrong them."

In a statement, a spokesperson for the city says it's collaborating with the non-profit lodging assemblage to make semipermanent lodging solutions. 

"By 2030, the City aims to o.k. astatine slightest 10,000 caller affordable rental and supportive homes for women and sex divers people. This includes projects specified arsenic Hope House," the connection says.

Hidden homelessness impacts women most

Advocates accidental authoritative statistic don't bespeak the existent fig of unhoused women due to the fact that they don't see hidden stateless women, those who couch-surf, find themselves successful exploitative sleeping arrangements, enactment successful abusive relationships oregon different alert nether the radar.

About 14 years ago, Seymour was 1 of those women. She says she recovered herself surviving successful her car for a period aft separating from her partner, doing what she could to debar sleeping successful shelters portion having 3 jobs.

"I near and recovered myself astatine stone bottom," she said.

"I've seen this clip and clip again that radical are looking to get out, they're looking for information and it simply does not beryllium for them," she said.

"Hope House volition help. But … it is not astir enough."

If you're successful contiguous information oregon fearfulness for your information oregon that of others astir you, delight telephone 911. If you're affected by household oregon intimate spouse violence, you tin look for assistance done crisis lines and section enactment services. ​​