Groups want Quebec to change financing for building women’s shelters

Article content

Associations of shelters for women who are victims of conjugal violence are calling upon Quebec premier François Legault to have the government create a financing program dedicated to the specifically to the construction of such shelters, saying the requirements of the current program is preventing some projects from being carried out.

The Alliance des maisons d’hébergement pour femmes et enfants victimes de violence conjugale (Alliance MH2), the Regroupement des maisons pour femmes victimes de violence conjugale and the Fédération des maisons d’hébergement pour femmes met in Montreal on Wednesday to call for changes to how construction projects for shelters are financed.

Article content

The groups say that at the moment the Société d’habitation du Québec evaluates construction projects for shelters using the same criteria as that for social housing, a practice which, in their opinion, is inadequate.

According to Maud Pontel, director of Alliance MH2, the current approach is “illogical and incomprehensible” because shelters have need of installations that are specific to their construction, requirements that can have an impact on construction costs.

“We need intervention rooms, we need offices for the workers, we need a community room to do group activities, we need a small daycare to be able to take care of the children, we need a room for adolescents. … In short, it requires several places where there will be intervention,” Pontel said.

“And that is considered non-residential. So, when people at the SHQ look at our projects, they will tell us: ‘It costs way too much.’”

The three groups argue that the constraints of the current rules have stalled two shelter projects in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, two in Montreal, one in Quebec City and one in Thetford Mines.

They say it is time for shelters to be evaluated with their own criteria and want the province to quickly address the situation.

“In 2021, when we were in the middle of the wave of feminicides, during the pandemic, the premier really mobilized his people. All we are asking is that what was announced in 2021 be finalized in 2024, that’s all we are asking,” Pontel said.

Share this article in your social network