UGM opens women-only shelter spaces
Posted February 6, 2012 7:08 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Women represent more than one-quarter of the homeless population on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, yet shelter space dedicated to them remains scarce. But a pair of local agencies are getting together to change that.
A pilot project will see the Union Gospel Mission on Cordova Street open up a 12-space women-only day shelter to help the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre which operates a nighttime service.
“We’re going to pick-up the hours that they have to close, so that some women who have not had 24-hour shelter will be able to have it between them and us,” says Barbara Atkins, general manager of the UGM’s Women and Family Services.
She adds by extending shelter hours it allows women to move forward beyond thinking about a place to stay or where their next meal will come from.
“They [Women’s Centre] will bring some of their most vulnerable women over to us in the morning. We will take them in; give them a bedroom and a place to lock up their things,” says Atkins.
The UGM estimates 27 per cent of the homeless on the Downtown Eastside are women.
The shelter will be open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. for 12 women and possibly one or two families.
