CALGARY – A booming population and a tight rental market is putting a strain on already burdened social services for the city’s most vulnerable.
Almost 3,000 women and children were denied a bed at the Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter last year.
Victims of domestic abuse are increasingly staying longer at the facility because they can’t find affordable housing.
Executive director Lisa Falkowsky said counsellors try to help women who are fleeing violence find a safe haven.
But many can’t be accommodated at the shelter, and those turned away are often forced to return to the same threatening places they were trying to escape, Falkowsky said.
“Our clients are staying almost twice as long as they used to,” she noted.
“We know that 33 per cent of the women who go back to abusive partners do so because they have nowhere else to go. The lack of affordable housing is the single most significant issue in our community right now.”
It comes as thousands of newcomers are flocking to the province, creating an extra burden for the shelters and social networks that help the city’s working poor.
Statistics Canada figures from the third quarter of 2012 show Alberta experienced the biggest net influx of interprovincial migration and immigration since 2006.
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Nearly 14,000 more new arrivals came to the province than left in a three-month span ending Oct. 1, 2012.
The population boom means low-income people often can’t compete in a tight rental market because they are rejected in favour of professional couples.
Many properties in Calgary are priced beyond what they can pay, acknowledged Darren Paddock, president of RentFaster.ca.
“There’s very few places where you can get a one bedroom for $800 a month.
“It’s tough, with the influx of people,” Paddock said.
Landlords are able to be choosy because a clean, reasonably priced apartment will typically net dozens of calls and emails.
“It definitely hurts the people on the fringes,” Paddock said.
One option is to apply for subsidized housing through Calgary Housing Co.
Each month, there are about 3,200 low-income Calgarians waiting for vacancies.
“The people from the emergency shelter do apply with us. Each of them are assessed individually, based on their circumstances, income, number of children and so on,” said Judy Wilkins, manager of community and tenant services.
But many linger on the waiting list with nowhere else to go.
“We have to go by who’s the highest in need. We can’t accommodate everyone – and that’s the problem.”
The majority of Calgary Housing’s funding comes from the province.
But with Alberta facing a $6-billion shortfall in next month’s budget, there isn’t much hope for money to build enough apartments, duplexes and townhouses for those who need them.
“If I had more units, I could help more people. We lobby for more funding but it comes down to whether they have the money or not,” Wilkins said.
The Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter saw an 11-per-cent increase in the number of people who accessed its services last year, including a help line, counselling services and the shelter itself.
Higher demand for such social services is a trend across the province – but some argue the infrastructure to support those most in need has been lacking for more than a decade, particularly in the cities.
“The spaces in the major urban areas have not kept pace with the population growth, let alone the increased awareness that you see in terms of domestic violence,” said Jan Reimer, executive director of the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters.
“There are different populations that need specialized interventions, and there’s a lack of housing that leads to longer lengths of stay at shelters because where are these women supposed to go?”
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
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