By Lara Fominoff @fomsy1 on Twitter

Lethbridge YWCA pleased with National Housing Strategy announcement

Nov 22, 2017 | 3:11 PM

LETHBRIDGE – They got what they asked for: dedicated resources in Wednesday’s National Housing Strategy announcement.
 
 YWCA CEO Jennifer Lepko, says that when more than 100 of their association’s delegates travelled to Ottawa earlier this month they asked that 25 per cent of the money from that strategy be allocated specifically for women, children and their families.
 
“They need to recognize that women and children need to be looked after in a specific way. And they heard us, and we’re absolutely thrilled…we’re looking forward to hearing what the actual details are going to look like, how things are going to be rolled out.”
 
Although most of the money won’t be allocated until after the next Federal Election, Lepko isn’t worried.
 
“Things do take a while to get going,” she explained. “It does give us an opportunity to do effective planning as to how that money can be rolled out, and really come up with some good strategies as to how we can make it effective for the people we serve.”
 
And those people, Lepko says, are scrambling for space and housing that is affordable for them in Lethbridge.
 
“It’s really hard to house a woman and children. There’s a lot of single space – one bedroom or studio type suites that might be affordable – but when you are trying to house a family of say three, four, five, it makes it very difficult.”
 
That said, Lepko emphasizes that “we’re heading in the right direction.”
 
According to the Lethbridge YWCA Annual report 2016-17:
 

• 636 women and children were taken in at the Harbour House emergency shelter 
• 2,058 were turned away for lack of space 
• 316 of those women considered themselves at ‘extreme risk’ of violence or homicide by an intimate partner 
• 262 disclosed sexual assaults to staff 
• 3,975 accessed outreach services

 
Across the country, census data shows that 1.7 million Canadians are in core housing need.
 
However, the of $40 billion in spending over 10 years, $10 billion of it was already planned spending, and nearly $5 billion was allocated from other areas.
 
The $4 billion Housing Benefit, which is aimed at providing affordability support directly to families and individuals in need, will not roll out until 2020, and is dependent upon $2 billion coming from the provinces as well.