It was Quebec that recorded the highest occupancy rate in its emergency shelters for victims of violence, the day in 2023 when Statistics Canada drew up a portrait of the situation in the country.
The federal statistics agency assessed the situation for the year 2022-2023 but also used another method: it drew a portrait of the occupancy of these shelters — or short-term shelters — during a typical day, determined in advance. For 2023, the choice was made on April 13. It is a sort of snapshot of the number and characteristics of the people accommodated.
That day, Quebec’s emergency and short-term shelters had an occupancy rate of 91%, the highest in the country. We are talking here about the percentage of occupied beds. The province was followed by Ontario, whose houses were 83% full.
If shelters in rural areas still had beds available on April 13 in Quebec, this means that those in large cities, generally busier, had to refuse admission to people in distress that day, as in many other occasions during the year. On April 13, 2023, 40% of shelters in Quebec were full.
During the previous photo taken by Statistics Canada, on April 14, 2021, it was also Quebec which had the highest occupancy rate, just like in 2018.
103%
Emergency shelters are those that welcome victims of violence who leave their homes either planned or in a hurry after a police intervention. They stay there for a while, often two or three months, and if they need to they can then reside in a long-term accommodation establishment, sometimes called a “second stage house”. »
Louise Riendeau, head of the Regroupement des centers pour femmes victims de violence conjugal, was not surprised by the figures from Statistics Canada.
“This corresponds to the reality we see in our homes. » The Regroupement has 47, spread across all regions except Nord-du-Québec.
According to their own data, the occupancy rate of their houses in 2022-2023 was 103%.
How is a rate of more than 100% possible? “It’s when we put extra mattresses on the ground to accommodate women in danger,” replies Mme Riendeau.
“Occupancy rates are higher than they were in the past,” she adds. Short-term shelters in Montreal and Outaouais are “always full” and refuse women due to lack of space. And if places become available on the North Shore, that doesn’t help Montrealers looking for a refuge to stay safe.
Lack of affordable housing
One of the reasons for this overflow is the lack of affordable housing, she said. Women are ready to leave shelters for victims of violence but remain “caught” because they are unable to afford an apartment.
This reason is also noted by Statistics Canada in its analysis. Approximately 85% of shelters — including a large proportion of those in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces — mentioned it.
On the day of the survey snapshot, 7,686 people were residing in the 562 accommodation establishments for victims of violence in the country — all categories combined. The vast majority of these people accommodated were women and their children (more than 9 out of 10 people). Indigenous women and children or non-permanent residents were over-represented in shelters compared to the Canadian population.
On the day of the snapshot, about 3 in 10 accommodation facilities in Canada reported refusing admission to some women. On that day alone, 705 women were unable to find shelter there and in the vast majority of cases, the reason was a lack of beds.
Statistics Canada also notes that, on the day of the snapshot, approximately two-thirds (65%) of shelter residents had experienced psychological violence. Other forms of violence reported were physical violence (58%) and financial exploitation (39%).
At the time of writing, the ministries concerned in Quebec and Ottawa had not reacted to this most recent data.