This is the terrifying choice faced by the majority of women who are victims of domestic violence, in a context where there is a shortage of rental housing, where those available are either too expensive or too small or in poor condition, and where prejudice and discrimination against families are raging.
The quest for a safe home
While Quebec is going through the worst housing crisis in its modern history, the situation of women who are victims of domestic violence is proving increasingly untenable.
Faced with the staggering number of feminicides in the last three years, we hear a lot about the lack of places in shelters and shelters. Women’s difficulty in finding housing that meets both their needs and their ability to pay makes their stay longer, preventing others from obtaining a place. Even when they have a job and earn an income, finding housing is increasingly difficult.
For those who are in a precarious economic situation, who need housing adapted to their disability, or who face discrimination because of their identity, it is simply mission impossible.
While access to decent, safe housing that meets their ability to pay is an essential condition for the reconstruction of women victims of domestic violence and their children, they are thus too often condemned either to rent housing that is too small, remote, isolated or insecure, either to experience homelessness, or to stay or return to their spouse, jeopardizing their health, their freedom, their safety and sometimes even their life and that of their children.
Social housing is vital!
If housing is a fundamental right, an essential good, to which everyone must have access, in the case of women who are victims of domestic violence and their children, it is a matter of security, even of survival.
By offering security of tenure, guaranteeing rents that meet households’ ability to pay and building up a collective heritage, social housing is a concrete response to the housing crisis, which particularly affects low- and modest-income tenants. .
In fact, the chronic lack of funding by governments to build social housing has direct consequences on the ability of women who are victims of domestic violence to get out of it.
This is why the Quebec government has a duty to quickly reverse the trend, by ensuring access to social housing, both for women who are victims of domestic violence and for all those forced to live in precarious situations. To do this, it must increase its achievement objectives to meet the needs and adequately fund a long-term program specifically devoted to social housing, allowing the development of cooperatives, housing NPOs and low-rent housing (HLM, for which female victims of domestic violence are a priority). More broadly, it must also adopt a comprehensive housing policy based on the recognition of the right to housing, the development and protection of social housing as well as better protections for tenants, including women who are victims of domestic violence.
For its part, the federal government can and must contribute to significantly increasing the share of social housing, by reallocating the billions of dollars provided for in its National Housing Strategy to social housing. It could also provide new, recurring and predictable funding for the Rapid Housing Initiative (RCLI), which specifically aims to meet the social housing needs of vulnerable people, including women who are victims of domestic violence.
As for the municipalities, at the forefront of the crisis affecting their populations, many are speaking out and mobilizing to take action in the area of social housing. They represent essential partners who can also make a difference at their level: reserving land and acquiring sites for the construction of social housing, imposing a share of social housing in any new real estate construction project, or even advocating with other orders. of government for adequate and funded programs commensurate with needs.
Women who are victims of domestic violence demonstrate admirable courage and resilience in a context where the conditions for reorganizing their lives are difficult. The help and shelters are there to support them in their efforts and adapt to the reality and needs of each of the women and their children. But the day will come when they will be ready to restart their lives elsewhere. For this day to be a true renewal, governments must do all they can to make housing a key to getting out of it.