Thank you.
My name is Asia Czapska. I'm the housing coordinator at Justice for Girls.
Justice for Girls is a B.C.-based organization. We advocate for homeless and low-income girls and have done so for over eleven years now. We recently completed a federally funded housing strategy for the prevention of girl homelessness in Canada and have set out what kinds of housing and program options are needed for girls who are at risk of homelessness or who are already homeless.
One of the main findings of our housing strategy is that many coeducational so-called “youth homelessness” housing options, such as youth shelters and also other slightly longer-term youth coeducational programs, do not meet the needs of girls who are homeless and that girls require specific girl-only housing and support. Youth shelters across Canada and government programs for homeless youth do not respond to the specific needs of girls and the needs of aboriginal, racialized, and lesbian girls in particular.
Youth safe houses or shelters are coeducational, as I've said, can be unsafe for girls, and do not respond to their needs, especially as many homeless girls are actually escaping male violence. For example, a 2007 B.C. survey of 762 homeless youth aged 12 to 18 found that 57% of the girls had been sexually abused, so especially in these conditions it's really important that youth homelessness programs are not de-gendered but that programs are created specifically for girls.
Group homes, foster homes, and youth shelters, sometimes called safe homes in British Columbia, are coeducational, and mostly across the country young women are often supervised by adult male staff, including on overnight shifts, and forced to live with male peers. For homeless young women, the vast majority of whom have been subjected to extreme and repeated male violence, coed housing is not a safe option.
Furthermore, safe houses, group homes, and foster homes often impose unrealistic and insensitive rules, regimes, and short time limits that push girls out of shelters. Girls end up living in squats with older predatory men, on the streets and alleyways, or couch surfing, which means staying on friends' and people's couches, and sometimes it's with people they don't know. Girls also lived in cramped, unsafe, and unsanitary single-room occupancy hotels in the downtown east side, or crack houses, or move from hotel to hotel under the control of pimps.
Given these considerations, and in particular given the fact that so many homeless teen girls are escaping male violence, including experiencing sexual exploitation, transition houses specifically for homeless girls must become the emergency response to girl homelessness as opposed to blanket youth homelessness initiatives. In order for gendered support programs and girl-specific emergency and long-term housing to be created across Canada, the federal government must allocate specific funding within the federal anti-homelessness and other housing initiatives toward housing and programs for the prevention of girl homelessness.
In 2006, in its review of Canada's compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the United Nations committee responsible for that covenant recommended that Canada give “special attention to the difficulties faced by homeless girls who are more vulnerable to health risks and social and economic deprivation, and take all necessary measures to provide them with adequate housing and social and health services”.
Given that a significant number of the homeless in Canada are teenaged girls, we approximate that between 6% and 12% of the homeless in large Canadian cities are teen girls. This is based on the number of youth homeless. It is estimated that somewhere between 10% and 30% of the homeless are youth. Half of those are girls.
A minimum of 6% of federal funding for anti-homelessness initiatives should be allocated specifically for programs tackling girl homelessness. Ultimately, any future federal funding designated for youth homelessness prevention must allocate 50% of funding towards housing and support programs that are for girls only, and that are specifically for homeless teenaged girls.
Finally, Justice for Girls of course looks forward to the creation of a national housing strategy, one that considers the needs of girls who are homeless.
Thank you.