Hello. I'm executive director at the St. Felix Centre in Toronto, Ontario.
Members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to participate in this meeting and to share the experience of St. Felix Centre in discussing the system that supports women and girls experiencing homelessness in Canada. I'm grateful to the committee and to the federal Liberal government of Canada for allocating time and resources to gathering more information about this extremely important subject.
Women in Canada face unique challenges when it comes to homelessness. Women are more likely to be subjected to physical and sexual assault. Much more frequently, they also bear the responsibility of caring for their children at the same time. The unfortunate reality is also that the number of women in need is likely far higher than our system data tells us. Due to systemic failures, women are less likely to report abuses and seek support. Women are also disproportionately in situations where they have to choose between their physical safety, and the safety of their children, or homelessness. The ongoing toxic drug crisis exacerbates all these other challenges and creates additional barriers to their connecting with services.
Our heritage as an organization is women-focused. The Felician Sisters created what would become the St. Felix Centre over 85 years ago. It was originally started to address the needs of women in the late stages of the Great Depression. While our service delivery scope has expanded over time, addressing the unique needs of women has remained at the forefront of our organization's mission.
We operate shelters, as well as a transitional housing program, in addition to permanent supportive housing. While we would specifically advocate for most of the focus and investment to be made in permanent housing, it is also true that there should be more dedicated space for women and girls in shelters and transitional housing. Our shelters are coed. We have certainly seen how this can create concerns around safety and accessibility for women. Our transitional housing program, on the other hand, is women only. It allows for a different kind of focus in our service delivery.
While I understand that the focus of this committee is on shelters and transitional housing, I want to share that St. Felix Centre was also fortunate to be able to participate in the successful federal Liberal housing program, previously referred to as the rapid housing initiative, which was introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. We brought land into the development project, but the federal government provided key capital dollars to make a housing project possible. In partnership with the municipality and the provincial government, we were able to build 31 units of rent-geared-to-income supportive housing for women and women with children. The availability of capital funds and the urgency designed into the RHI program allowed us to go from demolition of the existing building to welcoming our first tenants in just 24 months.
With Build Canada Homes, there's an opportunity to expand upon the success achieved by the federal government in creating additional housing for women. We're hopeful that our experience and demonstrated success in delivering housing quickly can encourage this government to continue to make meaningful investments in all types of housing options. We would like to see the federal government also work with the provincial government to ensure that as units are delivered through Build Canada Homes, the equally important resources are provided for the supportive programming. Rent-geared-to-income housing with supports is the best way to move marginalized women out of homelessness and to help ensure that they have the resources they need to stay housed.
The problems facing our communities are complex. The scale at which various supportive services are needed across the spectrum is definitely significant. Shelters and transitional housing can and do play an important role. However, we've seen first-hand that when resources in the form of capital funding are provided and barriers such as restrictive zoning are removed, permanent housing projects—projects that are the true solution to homelessness—can be delivered quickly and efficiently.
Thank you again for inviting St. Felix Centre to attend this meeting and join in this discussion.