In March of this year, it was announced that the Young Women’s Christian Association of Kitchener-Waterloo (YWKW) would be closing their 66-bed emergency shelter location formerly located at 84 Frederick St. On July 1, the Region of Waterloo took possession of the building.
In a 2023 Women’s Homelessness in Cambridge study completed by the Young Women’s Christian Association of Cambridge (YWCA), it was found that the Waterloo Region currently has 562 adult shelter beds. Of these, only 78 are designated explicitly for women.
“I was witnessing women being turned away from shelter. I’ve even in the past called for myself on behalf of women who need shelter, and there were no spaces. So, I guess just seeing this gender inequity existing in real life and these services was a shock,” said a representative for wrwomenshelternow, an Instagram account dedicated to advocating for equal shelter access for cis, trans and non-binary individuals across the Region.
While beds not explicitly for women do exist across the Region, a study by Project Willow in 2022 found that 73 per cent of participants avoided utilizing co-ed shelters due to safety concerns.
One such co-ed shelter is located at 1668 King St. E. in Kitchener and is operated by The Working Centre.
“The King Street shelter is just dorms – like a dormitory with 100 people sleeping in three different rooms. They’re not sectioned off by anything,” said Joe Mancini, co-creator of The Working Centre. “I think it’s really important that a [women’s shelter] gets reestablished.”
Organizations such as Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region (WCS) operate two emergency shelters for female identifying and gender-diverse individuals (Kitchener’s Anselma House and Cambridge’s Haven House), but these locations only house individuals and their children who are experiencing domestic violence.
“If you’ve been renovicted, evicted or broke up with your partner and now have nowhere to go, but you weren’t being you weren’t experiencing domestic violence, you aren’t eligible to stay there,” said the representative from wrwomenshelternow.
While the YWCA does not currently provide services to homeless women, they will be opening a temporary shelter in mid-November at Grace Bible Chapel on Grand Avenue S.
Funding for the project comes directly from the Region, the YWCA’s funding application getting approved in December of 2023.
“[The Region] have been fabulous partners. They’ve listened to what we said, they have allowed us to introduce this new model of service for the women that will be in our shelter. They have been good partners with us in establishing a temporary space and eventually permanent space,” said Kim Decker, the Chief Executive Officer of the YWCA.
When asked about the closure and sale of their 84 Frederick St. emergency shelter location to the Region, a representative from the YWKW stated that they are not making any further comment on the situation.
On their website, the YWKW state that they are focused on their plan to “design a bold model that not only addresses the root causes of systemic homelessness but also empowers women and provides a continuum of supports for them based on their needs.”
Currently, there has been no opening date set for the YWKW’s former emergency shelter at 84 Frederick St. – though the location will remain a shelter. The Region states they plan to open this location after transitioning from their 1668 King St. E. location to the newly purchased property.
The new site will utilize a Housing-First operating model to “support individuals in their housing journey through access to on-site programming, including health, addictions, and employment support,” as stated in a July 29 news brief.
