Honourable Chair and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this study.
My name is Kim Decker, and I'm the CEO of YWCA Cambridge. We are a member association of YWCA Canada, the nation's oldest and largest gender equity organization, and the largest provider of housing and shelter for women and gender-diverse people.
YWCA Cambridge operates the first and only women's emergency shelter for unhoused women in Cambridge. Our own research led us to build a model that differs significantly from traditional overnight-only emergency shelters. We operate a 24-7 facility with on-site wraparound supports.
We do this because our own local research—the findings of which are echoed by provincial and national research—reveals that nearly two-thirds of women experiencing homelessness experience violence on a weekly basis. This tells us that forced daytime discharge is unsafe and makes it impossible to have any semblance of stability, therefore increasing the risk of violence and other challenges in the shelter. The overnight-only service model is a key reason why homelessness shelters have the reputation of being so unsafe. It's not the service; it's the funding model.
I want to speak about the problematic and artificial distinction between homeless shelters and domestic violence shelters. A woman staying in a violence against women shelter is homeless—if she had a safe alternative, she would be there—yet funders and policy-makers continue treating these as two separate systems. This silos funding and results in a significant discrepancy in the level of support a woman receives, depending on which door she enters. This distinction is rooted in an outdated belief that someone leaving abuse is more worthy of support than someone who loses their housing for other reasons or, indeed, someone who loses their housing before they can access a VAW shelter.
This system failure is hidden by current data collection methods. Federally mandated point-in-time counts focus on street homelessness, which is more visible and tends to be male-dominated. Women are far more likely to experience hidden homelessness—couch surfing, staying in unsafe situations or remaining with an abusive partner to avoid the street.
Further, because there are fewer shelter beds and services dedicated to women, they are effectively made invisible. More than one million women in Canada have experienced this form of housing insecurity. They are not visible on a sidewalk, so there are fewer shelter beds for them versus men—a key source of point-in-time data. They are uncounted and, consequently, unfunded.
Housing insecurity is not only a result of violence but a major driver of it. Without a front door that locks, women are forced into survival sex or other exploitive situations just to secure a roof for the night to avoid the often greater or less predictable risks of violence.
Since opening our shelter in February 2025, we have been at capacity. Since August 2025, when we began tracking this number, we've had to turn away more than 230 requests for service because we were full. There was and still is nowhere else in our city to direct these women.
We also see a growing crisis of accessibility that disproportionately affects unhoused senior women, a demographic increasingly falling into homelessness. National data shows that only 66% of women's shelters have wheelchair-accessible rooms. For the 79% of women in housing need who live with a disability, the system is physically inaccessible. It's also important to note that housing that is both accessible and affordable is nearly impossible to find. In fact, a significant factor in the lengthening terms of stay in shelters is the fact that there is no appropriate housing into which women can move.
The national housing strategy is seven years in, yet significant gender equity gaps remain. Across Canada, there are over 4,800 emergency shelter beds dedicated to men, compared to just over 2,000 for women.
To address this, the federal government must formally expand the definition of “homelessness” in the Reaching Home strategy to include hidden homelessness.
We need a mandatory gender-based carve-out in the national housing strategy that reflects the actual scale of women's housing needs.
Federal infrastructure funding must be contingent on universal design standards to ensure that seniors and women with disabilities are never turned away because a facility lacks an elevator or an accessible washroom.
Finally, we must stop dichotomizing homelessness and violence against women. They are two sides of the same coin.