Women’s shelters across Alberta are being overwhelmed with individuals in need of their services.
According to YWCA Lethbridge and District CEO Jill Young, since April 1 the organization’s Harbour House has admitted 233 women and 58 children.
That’s already approaching the totals of the entire 2021-22 fiscal year, when 245 women and 85 children accessed services.
With only 24 beds, the Lethbridge YWCA isn’t able to accommodate everyone looking for shelter.
“The majority of the reason is because of lack of space in our shelter,” Young said. “What we saw and what we reported in the data from last year is that we had a high number of turn-aways.”
According to statistics released by the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters (ACWS) on Wednesday, between April 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022, facilities across the province received more than 65,000 calls for support.
More than 25,000 of those callers requested shelter, but only 16.6 per cent resulted in the individual being admitted.
“We’re post-restrictions and we’re seeing more and more call to shelter,” said ACWS executive director Jan Reimer.
“Since we’ve pulled this data, our members are reporting even more calls and even more demand for their services.”
The report states almost 7,000 individuals were admitted to emergency shelters over the same timeframe, a slight increase over the previous year.
About 1,420 of those admissions were in southern Alberta.
But demand isn’t the only escalation concerning advocates.
“The biggest trend that we are seeing is the severity of the abuse that is being reported upon admission,” Young said. “That severity is again, we’re seeing it coming out of COVID.”
“The dynamics of abuse are very much changing and they’re coming to the forefront.”
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