235 search results for
Housing and homelessness
Recommendation 2:
The National Occupancy Standards should not be used to exclude safe options for women experiencing violence.
As our research shows, the National Occupancy Standards are standing in the way of women accessing affordable units in social housing. Without affordable housing options, women may end up in unsafe situations. Furthermore, there is a common concern that MCFD may become involved due to the size of the unit a women is living in with her children or MCFD is unable to return children to the care of their mother from foster care because she is not able to obtain a big enough unit. The NOS are intended to address habitability and overcrowding issues but as applied as requirements by relevant housing and social service agencies, the unintended consequence is to keep women in unsafe circumstances and limit their freedom to access safe and affordable housing.
We recommend that CMHC clarify that the NOS are guidelines, not regulation and that safety should be established as the main priority for housing women and their children, not number of bedrooms.
As well, we recommend that MCFD educate their workforce so that the National Occupancy Standards are not used as justification for separating women and her children.
As our research shows, the National Occupancy Standards are standing in the way of women accessing affordable units in social housing. Without affordable housing options, women may end up in unsafe situations. Furthermore, there is a common concern that MCFD may become involved due to the size of the unit a women is living in with her children or MCFD is unable to return children to the care of their mother from foster care because she is not able to obtain a big enough unit. The NOS are intended to address habitability and overcrowding issues but as applied as requirements by relevant housing and social service agencies, the unintended consequence is to keep women in unsafe circumstances and limit their freedom to access safe and affordable housing.
We recommend that CMHC clarify that the NOS are guidelines, not regulation and that safety should be established as the main priority for housing women and their children, not number of bedrooms.
As well, we recommend that MCFD educate their workforce so that the National Occupancy Standards are not used as justification for separating women and her children.
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Recommendation 1:
Prioritizing affordable housing is essential for poverty reduction and economic security of women experiencing violence.
This community needs assessment and review of the academic and grey literature clearly shows that women experiencing violence face many challenges to securing affordable housing, with the most foundational barrier being unaffordability of housing and chronic poverty. Women experiencing violence need to find housing that is actually affordable (no more than 30% of her income) so that they are able to avoid a cycle of poverty.
We recommend that all levels of government commit to building adequate and affordable housing that fits the needs of women and their children experiencing violence.
This community needs assessment and review of the academic and grey literature clearly shows that women experiencing violence face many challenges to securing affordable housing, with the most foundational barrier being unaffordability of housing and chronic poverty. Women experiencing violence need to find housing that is actually affordable (no more than 30% of her income) so that they are able to avoid a cycle of poverty.
We recommend that all levels of government commit to building adequate and affordable housing that fits the needs of women and their children experiencing violence.
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Recommendation 3:
Partnerships are vital to reducing barriers for women experiencing violence.
Many of the barriers that women face in finding affordable long term housing can be reduced through partnerships across sectors and awareness building about the impacts of violence against women. While affordability and availability of housing are major barriers for people impacted by increasing unaffordability in BC, women experiencing violence face additional specific barriers due to their circumstances. We can see that barriers such as a lack of references, access to childcare or understanding their housing options are obstacles that can be better solved with partnerships.
We recommend that this project continues to build partnerships between transition houses, government, and the housing sector to help address and work towards improving these types of barriers.
Many of the barriers that women face in finding affordable long term housing can be reduced through partnerships across sectors and awareness building about the impacts of violence against women. While affordability and availability of housing are major barriers for people impacted by increasing unaffordability in BC, women experiencing violence face additional specific barriers due to their circumstances. We can see that barriers such as a lack of references, access to childcare or understanding their housing options are obstacles that can be better solved with partnerships.
We recommend that this project continues to build partnerships between transition houses, government, and the housing sector to help address and work towards improving these types of barriers.
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Recommendation 10:
Establish an expert panel of both academic and practice leaders in relational care to help shift assisted living from a philosophy of living at risk to a philosophy of relational care.
This panel’s work should begin with a report for the review process (above) on how to replace Managed Risk Agreements with Relational Care Agreements. Such agreements would acknowledge both the resident’s autonomy and the responsibility of assisted living operators to engage with residents and provide them with the support, education and social connections required to maintain and/or enhance their well-being and autonomy. The report would:
This panel’s work should begin with a report for the review process (above) on how to replace Managed Risk Agreements with Relational Care Agreements. Such agreements would acknowledge both the resident’s autonomy and the responsibility of assisted living operators to engage with residents and provide them with the support, education and social connections required to maintain and/or enhance their well-being and autonomy. The report would:
- Define and apply relational care principles to an assisted living environment;
- Outline a relational-care-planning process to be used with each resident when they enter an assisted living residence and a process for updating it at regular intervals;
- Describe the educational materials and quality-improvement processes needed to support a relational care framework and improve practice over time;
- Include strategies for ensuring that front-line staff and residents, and their family and friends, feel safe and respected in these processes; and
- Recommend how to facilitate the shift to relational care and processes for monitoring progress (i.e., through the inspection processes for assisted living residences).
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Recommendation 1:
Enhance the capacity of the assisted living registry to enforce the Community and Assisted Living Act by substantially increasing the number of assisted living investigators, and by developing policies that build on the inspection provisions in the act.
These policies should:
These policies should:
- Mandate yearly inspections of all private-pay and publicly subsidized assisted living residences; and
- Mandate all publicly subsidized and private-pay assisted living residences to post clear and detailed information about how and where residents, families and staff can access the complaints process of the assisted living registry, including public reporting on compliance.
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