When women are denied access to services, which happened 9,000 times this year, we wonder where they can turn for services. We're talking mainly about first‑stage housing. External services can provide direct support to women facing housing insecurity.
As my colleague said at the start, once women have been able to access the services of our shelters, 35% of them will again end up in a precarious housing situation. No community or affordable housing is available when they leave. That's why one of our key recommendations focuses on this issue.
Yes, shelters provide vital support and necessary guidance for women who have experienced multiple forms of violence and extremely complex life paths. However, they can't always access social housing with community support afterwards. The fact that women can access low‑cost housing, for example, is no guarantee that they'll end up in a safe environment. They need a single‑sex environment and, in some cases, ongoing community support.
We spoke earlier about the third stage, which is useful. However, we can see that, in some cases, women are unable to work through their complex traumas when they remain in a shelter or transition housing for one, two or three years. We really need permanent solutions so that women can work through their experiences of violence.
Perhaps Ms. Bigaouette wants to continue.