Province announces money for shelter beds, housing initiative

The Nova Scotia government announced this week two initiatives aimed at addressingtheprovince's growing homelessness problem.

Themoves are being welcomed by community workers, even assomecontinue to push forpermanent solutions like more affordable housing.

On Tuesday, the province said it would spend$350,000 toadd15 new beds to theMi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre's North Park shelter in Halifax. That will increase the total number of beds designated for Indigenous men and women at the shelterto 40.

"We are grateful for the opportunity to expand the supports available to help our community,"Pam Glode-Desrochers, executive director ofMi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre, said in a press release."We look forward to the continued partnership with the province to support the most vulnerable in our community."

Last year, the province committed$1.8 million to housing projects in the Halifax area, including money that would help pay for17 units being built bythe Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre.

On Wednesday, the province alsoannounced $100,000 todevelop a proposal for a community-based, permanent housing project for up to 100 women and children called the Home for Good Centre. The work will include selecting a site, the preliminary design and creating a fundraising plan.

As of May 11, according to the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia, there were 450 people experiencing homelessness in Halifax, 235 identifying as men and 199 as women. It's a drop from the 490 in December.

A 2019 Statistics Canada report found that one of the major challenges for women who had fled abuse and were in a shelter was finding affordable and adequatelong-term housing. Nearly one in five returned to live with their abuser.

One of the aims of theHome for Good Centre will be to provide women with a permanent residence, according toMiiaSuokonautio, the executive director of the YWCA of Halifax, one of the project proponents.

"It's really about building a multi-use space that includes housing," saidSuokonautio.

Suokonautiosaid Home For Good Centrewill not only beoffering affordable housing it will be a community hub.

"We really want to see a high class women centre in the city that would have not onlyhousing but serve as a community drop-in space, women's resource centre, potentially child care, maybe a social enterprise, so many different things."

Suokonautiosaidhomelessness is a gendered experience and there are some segments of the population more affected than others.

"When we talk about women housing, we know that African Nova Scotianand Indigenous women and trans women are disproportionatelyimpacted within the criminal justice system," she said. "For us this is really about diverse women and girls. It's for Black women, it's for Indigenous women, it's for trans women, it's for young women."

Suokonautiosaid it's hopedthe Home for Good Centre will be similar to YWCA projects in larger cities, such asVancouver.Suokonautio points to a low-income housing project in Vancouver primarily for single mothers and families. Itprovides 32 unitsand requires residents to submit financial documents annuallyto be eligible.

"The first, second, third and fourth thing is we need housing. We need more units. We need affordable units. We need safe units," saidSuokonautio. "Good affordable housing needs to be availableforeverybody because that's how we're going to make a positive contribution to our collective community."