On June 20, 2024, Waterloo Regional Council approved the purchase of 84 Frederick St., in downtown Kitchener, which was previously home to Mary’s Place shelter operated by the YW-Kitchener Waterloo (YWKW).
The YWKW announced that by the end of June they were closing the shelter which has been operating at that location for over 50 years.
“The frank reality is, we’ve outgrown that space. The building requires a lot of capital infrastructure to support it and it’s not designed to meet the complex needs of the clients we support,” YWKW CEO Jennifer Breaton, said.
In January 2024, the Region had 605 beds, including emergency shelters, motels and transitional housing—an increase from 254 in 2018. Mary’s Place was home to 66 of those beds.
While the number of beds has increased in recent years, so too has the need. According to the EngageWR site, there were an estimated 558 people experiencing hidden homelessness as of February 2024. In 2021, that number was 361.
An individual experiences chronic homelessness if they have been
homeless for at least six months over the course of a year (not necessarily consecutive days) and/or, has episodes of homelessness over three years that total at least 18 months.
Housing costs are also rising.
“With the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment currently $1,658 in Waterloo Region, someone receiving $700 a month cannot make ends meet. Household income needs to be more than $75,000 per year to afford the rental market,” the EngageWR page states.
The Region purchased the 84 Frederick St. property for use as a permanent emergency shelter and as a critical investment in future affordable housing in downtown Kitchener.
At the regional council meeting on Aug. 13, council decided that those spaces would be for single women, gender-diverse and non-binary adults, at least for now.
“Plans include developing a second 50-bed hybrid shelter location, along with establishing a women’s shelter with the Cambridge YWCA,” Peter Sweeney, the Region’s Commissioner of Community Services, outlined at the council meeting.
The current lack of dedicated women’s-only emergency shelter spaces often means that women are choosing potentially unsafe alternatives, according to Project Willow, a local report exploring gender-based violence and women’s homelessness.
“Many women will not go to co-ed spaces because they have experienced high levels of violence in their lives and these aren’t safe spaces for them to be in,” Erin Dej, associate professor in the department of criminology at Wilfrid Laurier University, said.
According to the Project Willow report, 83 per cent of respondents have stayed in situations that were abusive or violent because it is safer than being homeless; and 73 per cent of respondents would not consider co-ed shelters due to safety issues.
“Instead, they choose options such as sleeping rough, hiding in parking garages, joining encampments or camping alone in neighbouring forests,” the Project Willow report states.
The Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region offers supports for women facing domestic violence.
“We know that domestic violence has existed for far too long, often because it’s seen as a ‘private matter’ or that there is a lot of shame or secrecy attached. Only about 30
per cent of individuals ever report domestic violence to police,” Jennifer Hutton, CEO of Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region, told CityNews Kitchener.
Organizations like the Women’s Crisis Services are incredibly important for the women and families who fall within their mandate.
“[T]he closure of 84 Frederick has left an enormous gap in the shelter spaces provided for women in this region,” Dej said.
“There’s very much a need for an emergency women’s homeless shelter. What we do (at Women’s Crisis Services) is similar and also different. Our mandate is really around specific experiences of domestic violence, when there is a safety issue at hand,” Hutton said.
While the closure of Mary’s Place has left a noticeable gap in services for women and non-binary individuals, what existed previously was not meeting the immense need in our community.
“Over the last two years, it’s become increasingly apparent that (Mary’s Place) is aging and quite honestly, the need for emergency shelter far exceeds our ability to deliver it in that space. It wasn’t uncommon to see 100 women seeking shelter in a space that that was funded and designed to operate with 66 beds,” YWKW’s Jennifer Breaton, said.
“We heard stories about women who didn’t feel safe in our space. We heard stories of women who felt they couldn’t maintain sobriety in our space. It really challenged us to design something that brought dignity back to who we provide services for,” she said.
By talking with women and gender diverse individuals, both those who had resided at Mary’s Place and those who had not, the YWKW board began to understand ways the current shelter was not meeting the needs of many. That served as the impetus for wanting to develop a better model.
“I had no idea that the services that we’ve been providing to women in this community are not sufficient. Our board made a decision that we needed to move forward to build something that served the women and children in this community in a much, much better way,” said Karen Coviello President of the board, YW Kitchener-Waterloo.
That new model is under development and there is no timeline yet as to when the YWKW will be able to open new shelter services. To get there though, it will require partnerships across the non-profit sector, which has seen competition between not-for-profit organizations.
“We are in a space where we have to compete against each other for resources, land, opportunity, connection, everything. It’s been a competitive space. Partnership is the only way we can move forward on big ideas. We are committed to leaning in with other agencies, other parts of the housing continuum to make those changes good for Waterloo Region,” Coviello said.
Some of those discussions have already been happening.
“We are talking regularly with other shelter providers, whether that’s the homeless sector, whether that’s the Violence Against Women sector, we sit at the same tables. We’re very much aware of what’s happening in the community and very much talking about how we can work together, how we can plan together,” Jennifer Hutton said.
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