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Overcrowding at Sea to Sky women's shelter

Lack of space means mother and baby turned away
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A mother and baby fleeing violence were among the latest people to be turned away from Pearl's Place Transition House, Squamish's six-bed shelter that offers women a temporary home while they adjust to leaving domestic abuse.

"We've had to turn several people away, (there mother and baby were) just one example," said Sheila Allen, the executive director of the Howe Sound Women's Centre.

She said the mother, who came to them at the end of September, was given as much support as Pearl's was able to provide.

"We were able to find that person an alternate safe location but it was outside of our jurisdiction so she had to travel for miles and miles to get help. When people are from our area and need help we'd prefer to keep them closer to (people in) their community, who can support them as well."

And in the first four days of October alone, Pearl's Place had 10 referrals.

"Ten women were referred and three children, and the house is full!" Allen said, adding that Squamish immediately needs eight beds to be available to manage the need.

When asked if she thought the lack of safe beds was a crisis for the Sea to Sky Corridor, Allen said the situation had been "escalating slowly" over the past few years, thanks largely to lack of funding. Financial support from government agency BC Housing has not increased since 2007, Allen said.

As well, their mandate has changed and Pearl's Place is now open to more vulnerable women.

"We're housing women who had been through domestic violence and also opening the doors to other women who might be from vulnerable populations: homeless or needing extra assistance in the short-term in a crisis — so we are packed all the time... we're not just helping women who are leaving domestic violence," Allen said.

"Now it's to the point where it's just that much more noticeable... we're full to capacity in our transition house all the time.

"I think the government of B.C. is using transition houses as a low-cost alternative to investing in the provincial mental health system."

There are two facilities to assist women in the region, Pearl's Place, where women and children can stay up to 30 days while they get their lives together, and a smaller safe house in Pemberton that is run by volunteers and a part-time coordinator, where women can stay up to 10 days. All groceries, prescriptions and day-to-day necessities are provided because women often flee with nothing.

There is no safe house or transition house in Whistler and women in the resort who need to leave violent relationships at short notice are sent to Pemberton or Squamish. Allen was unable to say how many of the women they help come from Whistler.

"We need a larger facility in Squamish so that we could potentially help more, and we definitely need a transition house in Whistler. We need that to come to fruition," Allen said.

"If (these women) have jobs and kids in school and connections to the local community, they may not want to travel all the way to another community. Many don't have transportation, particularly in Whistler, where people who work locally don't always have it, or they are coming from an abusive relationship and do not have control of the transportation."

The Howe Sound Women's Centre has made studies of the housing situation in Whistler, and has spoken to the Whistler Housing Authority to discuss the options of establishing a safe house at the resort.

"We've done a little legwork but we can`t move forward without cash. We have been trying to set the pieces in place, but we need to have the funding and we need to have the community support," Allen said. "There is a real need for a transition house in Whistler or at least a safe house."

Information obtained from BC Housing after an email request stated that the government provides annual funding for Pearl's Place Transition House of $335,988 and the Pemberton safe house receives $55,932. The agency added that, according to information provided to them by the HSWC, the occupancy rate for Pearl's Place was 35 per cent in 2012/13 and is 38 per cent for the first quarter this year.

Pearl's Place was full for 87 nights in 2012 and "that occupancy rate makes it a challenge to fund additional beds year round," BC Housing added.

BC Housing said "community organizations determined the level of need before the transition house program was transferred to BC Housing in 2009."

When it comes to funding a safe house or transition house in Whistler, BC Housing said: "We will look carefully at any proposal that is presented to us and work with the Society and the community to assess the need and feasibility for a project." The agency added that it had requested from the HSWC information on the demand from communities outside Squamish but had not yet received it.

When asked to comment about the difficulties in sending away women and children because there aren't enough beds, the agency responded: "It's unfortunate and a situation that we work very hard to avoid."

In response, the HSWC provided data about recent months in which it said Pearl's Place was full or over capacity for 46 days in the first quarter, with 120 referrals, including women and children, out of which around 11 women and nine children received shelter at Pearl's Place.

Allen said much of the difference had to do with the way the data was collected. She explained that the transition house had one double bedroom and two bedrooms with three single beds in each.

The current need for more beds is based on recent trends from the community and the wider mandate, she added.

"We get three single women in and maybe one woman has mental health issues or is homeless, another is an addict coming off of (a drug) and we can't stuff all those women into one room, and then open up the other beds, because the staff can't handle that kind of complexity," Allen said.

"If we have three single women in with really high needs and our one support worker is trying to support them, it puts us in a precarious position. We can't kick out people who are in there to bring in the family."

Allen hopes this situation will inspire a conversation in Whistler and around the region about providing a transition house or safe house in the resort and increase services in the rest of the corridor.

Women in the region needing crisis support can call the Howe Sound Women's Centre 24-hour line at 604-892-5711 or 1-877-890-5711. HSWC's Whistler office can be reached at 604-962-8711.