Cornerstone Housing for Women to expand and move its emergency shelter

“Over the last 10 years, it’s been a key priority for the organization and part of our strategic plan to meet the increasing needs of women in Ottawa.” says Kate Jackson, interim Executive Directors

April 9, 2024 – Ottawa, ON – Cornerstone Housing for Women will be moving its emergency shelter on O’Connor Street to Carling Ave. at the end of April, increasing its shelter capacity by 145% from 61 beds to 150 beds. The new shelter space will also have an additional 15 beds designated as overflow shelter spaces to be used in the event other women’s shelters in the city are full.

The former site of the Carling Family Shelter at 2980 Carling Ave in Nepean will be the new home of Cornerstone’s shelter.

The new space will allow Cornerstone to meet the growing demand for shelter services for women and gender-diverse adults experiencing homelessness in Ottawa. Existing services such as case management, housing support, counselling, health care, harm reduction, food, laundry, and more will continue to operate in the new shelter with a vastly increased capacity.

For nearly ten years Cornerstone has been working with the City of Ottawa to move and expand its emergency shelter. The existing shelter was not purpose-built as a shelter which has created challenges for Cornerstone to support the growing needs in the community. Currently, the site has 61 beds that serve women and gender-diverse people each evening.

The Carling Ave. shelter location is accessible – featuring an elevator, large hallways, and a common room that allows us to serve 70 individuals at a time. The new shelter space will allow Cornerstone to develop new community partnerships and grow existing ones to better meet the needs of shelter residents and help move them along their housing journey.

Cornerstone will be moving the initial 61 residents of the O’Connor Shelter to the new location starting in April with the other 89 beds to be filled in a phased approach.

Quotes:

“Shelter services have been at the foundation of our mission, mandate, and values for 40 years. Over the last 10 years, it’s been a key priority for the organization and part of our strategic plan to meet the increasing needs of women in Ottawa. We greatly appreciate the ongoing partnership with the City of Ottawa to enable us to provide services to women experiencing homelessness in our city. It truly takes a community” says Kate Jackson, acting executive director of Cornerstone Housing for Women.

“Every day, I get calls from women asking if we have room and it breaks my heart to tell them ‘no’. It furthers their belief that they are not seen, heard, or valued. With this new shelter location, Cornerstone will be able to meet the increasing demand for women’s shelter services. Here, more women and gender-diverse people will be able to heal, access essential healthcare and social services, and ultimately find housing” says Shannon Miller, associate director of shelter services at Cornerstone Housing for Women.

“The City of Ottawa has seen unprecedented demand for shelter services since the COVID-19 pandemic. Cornerstone is a key community partner that is helping to ensure women experiencing homelessness are provided with the needed support to stabilize and obtain long-term housing. The new site is an important milestone in expanding the City’s permanent shelter capacity for women and gender-diverse individuals, which will support our work towards exiting overflow shelter spaces operating in community centres” says Paul Lavigne, Director of Housing Services.