Violence is a leading cause for housing precarity among women and their children in British Columbia. The ongoing housing crisis across the province often leaves women with few options for affordable and appropriate long-term housing. Limited affordable housing options often requires many women and their children to leave their communities and support networks to find affordable housing elsewhere.

In 2018, BCSTH began the Getting Home Project to understand the relationship between housing insecurity and women’s experiences of violence.  BCSTH member organizations identified a bottleneck to long-term housing for the women who access their services, which results in limited access to Safe Homes, Transition Houses, and Second and Third Stage Housing for women seeking these services. The Getting Home Project also identified the safety risks resulting from the lack of safe, affordable and appropriate housing for women who have experienced violence, as it was found that women often have to choose between housing and safety.

As such, BCSTH has become a leader in the province for research related to barriers to housing for women experiencing violence and the intersection between the anti-violence sector and the housing sector. It is BCSTH’s goal to increase access to housing by:

• supporting BCSTH members who are providing housing to women with experiences of violence and their children
• increasing capacity within the anti-violence sector to provide affordable and women-centered housing options
• continuing research on key barriers to housing for women who have experienced violence and potential solutions
• researching design solutions to provide women-centered long-term housing
• Knowledge translation through delivering trainings and developing and sharing toolkits and resources with the anti-violence and housing sectors
• facilitating partnerships and projects between the anti-violence sector and the community housing sector

Please see the list below for BCSTH’s past and ongoing research and projects related to increasing access to housing.