Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Every day, women in distress call shelters for shelter. And every day, workers have to refuse requests for help, for lack of space. This situation is part of the annual increase in refusals for lack of space in women’s shelters in Quebec, which amounted to 8,000 during the year 2019-2020.
Les Maisons de l’Ancre, which include a medium-term shelter and two permanent housing buildings in Montreal, are no exception to this reality. The organization is forced to make nearly 1,000 refusals a year, estimates the director general, Julie Chevalier.
The Anchor home, located in the arrondissement of Saint-Michel, is similar to any residential building. However, surveillance cameras circle the building.
The spirit of solidarity between the women who reside there is palpable. On the ground floor, some are busy cooking supper, while others are watching television in the living room. The case workers’ office is on the same floor, ready to welcome women who feel the need.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Residents watch television in the living room of the L’Ancre hostel in Montreal’s east end.
Stéphanie* lived in several shelters, including some for women victims of domestic violence, before arriving at the Anchor shelter. At the time, she could no longer see out of both eyes “because of [son] past”, and the various resources were not suitable to host it. “It’s like a family,” she says, pointing to the welcome she received at the Anchor home.
We manage to have a routine here, that’s what’s good. Sometimes we need that in our life, a routine, to start over.
Stéphanie, resident at the Anchor home
Josée* had been living at the Anchor home for six months at the time of our visit. She fell into drug addiction during a previous relationship, then suffered sexual and domestic violence. She lost two apartments and a job. Josée lived successively with her father, whom she had to take care of, and her daughter.
“I am just beginning to assimilate [que je suis en] security, then sleep. I have a lot of insomnia, nightmares, flashbacks “, she says, sitting in the room of the Anchor foyer intended for art therapy workshops. “I can sleep, no one will garrock down the bed,” she continues. Josée also appreciates listening to the workers, who provide “all the tools”.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Mélanie Hubert and Julie Chevalier discuss with residents around the evening meal.
The Federation of women’s shelters (FMHF) reports 8,000 refusals for lack of space during the year 2019-2020. “I’ve been at the house for 16 years. [Fédération], and there have always been refusals for lack of space. But, each year, it increases, ”recalls the director of the FMHF, Manon Monastesse.
“We always try to find a plan B, a plan C”, continues Mme Monastery. Some women must be housed in other regions, and others, temporarily housed in a resource before being rehoused in another.
“There aren’t many organizations like the Maisons de l’Ancre in Montreal. That [me] hurts, because I [je connais] a lot of people who are in a precarious situation,” says Margarette*, a resident of the Anchor home. She had found herself on the street after her house had been engulfed in flames.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Laurie and Margarette, two residents of the Anchor home
“I can finally drop off in this safe place, to have time to live simply,” says Laurie*. The Anchor home allowed her to regain stability, following a second stay in psychiatry.
“Pick up the broken pots”
Interveners are available 24 hours a day at the Anchor home, 7 days a week. A total of 11 women reside there for a period of 6 months to 2 years. Among them, two are in a transitional apartment located in the same building. These are women who were homeless or at risk of homelessness and who, for the most part, have experienced situations of violence.
Like every week, about ten workers were gathered in the meeting room of the shelter, the morning of the visit of The Press. They discuss the residents one by one. They exchange advice about the best way to intervene with a woman who suffers from paranoia, and branch off on the possibility of a second woman taking self-defense classes.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Julie Chevalier, director of the accommodation center
Julie Chevalier believes that the workers are still in the process of “picking up the broken pots” by the impacts of the pandemic. The director mentions that “at least three positions” have been created at the Maisons de l’Ancre since the start of the pandemic in order to meet the growing needs of women.
Aware of the confinement, the women, already isolated, felt even more alone since they could only leave the house on very rare occasions. Véronique Bourdages, intervention coordinator, noticed an increase in feelings of hopelessness and suicidal thoughts among residents.
Critical accommodation needs in the medium term
The Maisons de l’Ancre are calling for more medium-term, single-sex and open 24-hour accommodation resources to be offered in Montreal. “Having to make telephone refusals every day is very difficult to do when our mission is to save lives,” says Julie Chevalier.
The organization also deplores the lack of shelters that welcome women in the medium term in the metropolis, compared to emergency shelters.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Véronique Bourdages, intervention coordinator
“Often, they call the other emergency accommodation, because the stays, at some point, it ends, it’s a month. Then when you have been around for months, you are waiting between each resource, ”says Véronique Bourdages.
“It’s a roulette wheel, at some point we’ll [leur] say: ‘Yes, you have a bed today,’” recalls Mélanie Hubert, coordination support agent.
* The women who testified did not wish to reveal their surnames.