Life-saving service in Hamilton may be shuttered due to lack of funding
Published November 7, 2019 at 9:51 pm
The future of a life-saving social service that has been available in Hamilton for the past number of years may be in jeopardy unless funding can be obtained by December.
The future of a life-saving social service that has been available in Hamilton for the past number of years may be in jeopardy unless funding can be obtained by December.
Representatives from YWCA, Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team and Willow’s Place women’s shelter appeared before the city’s Emergency and Community Services Committee on Thursday (Nov. 7) to request a one-time infusion of $228,000 to get their emergency overnight women’s services at Carole Anne’s Place.
Today, Director of Operations @medorauppal and CEO @DeniseChrisYW appeal to the @cityofhamilton's Emergency and Community Services Committee for one-time funding for Carole Anne's Place.
"We need these supports. They're critical." pic.twitter.com/AXAgqfEBHK
— YWCA Hamilton (@YWCA_Hamilton) November 7, 2019
“YWCA Hamilton’s Carole Anne’s Place keeps women who are homeless warm and safe during Canada’s coldest winter months,” the presentation by the YWCA’s Medora Uppal and Denise Christopherson, said.
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Women who cannot find a safe space in the cold winter months, who cannot access traditional shelters turn to places like Carole Anne’s, explained Uppal. If they can’t, “they end up in very dangerous situations that most of us can never understand.”
Carole Anne’s, located at the MacNab YWCA, offers beds to approximately 10 to 20 women a night starting in December and lasting through the winter months.
Addiction and withdrawal services are also provided at Carole Anne’s alongside Willow’s Place, a daytime women’s services centre that is wholly funded through Mission Services.
As it stands, contributions of $30,000 have already been committed to Carole Anne’s Place from St. Joe’s, Out of the Cold, and Sisters of Charity.
Carole Anne’s and Willow’s place provide what is known as ‘low-barrier’ services which allows women a degree of anonymity when accessing them.
Last year, Carole Anne’s and Willow’s Place logged more than 4,000 visits from more than 260 unique women. In many cases, Uppal said, they are accessing life-saving services.
The fear is that these women would have no safe place to go at night during the winter months.
Carole Anne’s Place evolved from the Women’s Housing Planning Collaborative (WHPC) in 2016 and has relied on contributions from Out of the Cold, a non-profit, and the LHIN to operate.
In previous years, the initiative has been largely funded by the LHIN, but with the change in power at the provincial level funding for the program has disappeared.
While committee members understood the urgency of the matter before them, many were concerned that providing the funds on this emergency basis would set a dangerous precedent going forward.
Others expressed their frustration with the LHIN and the province for putting the municipality in this position in the first place by eliminating funding.
“We’re asking for a little bit of help so that we won’t have to see women die in our community,” Uppal said. “We all have an ethical obligation to do something.”
In the end, the committee drafted a motion that if passed would see the funds allocated to Carole Anne’s place to get them through the winter with the amendment that moving forward other funding be found for the service.
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