The lack of affordable, safe housing in Niagara hits women and gender-diverse individuals particularly hard, and solutions go beyond adding more housing units. Systemic change in providing programs and supports would help to put women and gender-diverse individuals in a position to be able to access housing.
Research summarized in this policy brief includes perspectives provided by women and gender-diverse people in Niagara who have experienced homelessness, members of organizations who represent people with lived experience of homelessness, and YWCA Niagara leaders.
Brock University researchers identified five key areas in which women and gender-diverse people face barriers to access and keep housing that meets their needs:
- Affordability
- Support systems
- Trauma
- Discrimination
- Safety
Published By: Niagara Community Observatory, Brock University
Publication Date: September, 2022
Click here to access: Improving Safe and Affordable Housing for Women in Niagara, Before and After COVID-19
Click here to access the 2-page fact sheet, ‘Unhoused in Niagara’
Click here to access the related video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW1G8XOuzwc&t=3s
