Housing …
Are you tired of seeing and/or hearing the word?
Well, we at the Outlook are wearying of it as well, but, being that it’s a subject that won’t go away any time soon, we feel continuing comment is needed.
This week’s editorial topic is again affordable housing, but with a different scenario.
While all manner of housing topics continue to be in the news, whether it be affordable housing, rental housing, below market housing, etc… we’d like to again highlight another form of housing – and the lack thereof – which must be addressed.
While there is a shortage of affordable housing in our valley, in reality that shortage pales in necessity compared to a lack of women’s emergency shelter housing.
Statistics show an ever-upward climb in incidences of family violence, both in our community and in Alberta overall, but emergency shelter space remains static at one room, with two beds, at the YWCA facility in Banff (page 18).
That single room is all that’s available for, say, a woman (with or without children) stuck in an abusive relationship who simply needs respite and possibly some time to repair. In a Bow Valley community of some 20,000 souls, it’s simply not enough.
Worse yet, and beyond shelter space, there is no housing option – none, zero, nada – for women in a transitional phase of their life who have gathered the courage to end a cycle of domestic violence in their home by leaving their partner.
We realize that many, within and without, view our valley as a beautiful, desirable Rocky Mountain slice of heaven. That doesn’t mean, however, that everything within our valley should be viewed with rose-coloured glasses.
Many valley citizens, luckily and hopefully, have not had, and never will have, any experience with women who have suffered from domestic violence related to physical, mental and emotional abuse.
Staff at the Outlook, though, have interviewed some of these women and sat in on court cases in regard to the above violence. The stories some of these women have shared are heartbreaking and disturbing and an example of why more emergency shelter space is necessary and why construction of transition housing is critical.
As YW CEO Connie MacDonald has pointed out, it’s not just about helping women in need, it’s also about not having to turn women in need away. In 2014-15 there were 34 women turned away and in 2015-15, it was 42 – many of whom were referred to other shelters in Alberta if space was available.
There is absolutely no question, no argument, that shelter space and transitional housing is desperately needed in the Bow Valley.
Canmore Rotary is certainly on board, as the community service group has provided the YWCA with $240,000 in monetary support and with expertise that it’s difficult to attach a dollar figure to.
Being that shelter space and transitional housing both fall under the ‘housing’ category, it seems like an ideal opportunity for the local development community to get on board with the Bow Valley Women’s Emergency Shelter project. Obviously, a property needs to be found and an appropriate-sized building constructed – which corresponds nicely with what the development community is all about.
Imagine, if you will, being involved in an abusive relationship and not being able to walk away from it because you’re a long way from home, have no immediate family who can help, can’t simply remove your children from their school, feel physically threatened, have no solid source of income …
