Thank you for the question.
I think, as you said, it's a systemic approach to creating a sustainable solution. As Barb said, for many of the women who enter our shelter, their length of stay has increased. We've gone from 15 or 16 days to up to 53 days that they have to stay, because there is that gap in the spectrum of housing supply in that supportive, deeply affordable space.
That is the space these women need to enter, because there is an aspect of financial control. They haven't had access to the funds. They haven't been allowed to work. They need an affordable rental, and that supply has been drying up. We need increased investment in that space, absolutely. We don't want individuals to stagnate in their survival process. Once they have reached out for help, if there's not continuous momentum, there is a real danger that they will go back to their abuser. That's why we need to have the supply, so that they can move quickly through.
The other side of that is the support services. These are lifelong support services. This is an abuse that puts a mark on your soul for the rest of your life. It opens up on a random Tuesday. It opens up on special occasions. It's a piece that will live with you.
What we're seeing for the immediate service need is that we're looking at a community hub model. We spoke about the dangers: I'm having to go to a lawyer to seek custody; I'm going to the shelter to see how I can have housing support; I have to go to someone else to see an employment counsellor. Every time I leave, my life is at risk. How do we centralize these services into one location, or somehow into a community hub model, so that there's one place I can go and access all of my services and I'm not at risk long term?