Women’s shelter copes with cold

A Hamilton homeless shelter hopes to get a funding boost to help it cope with an influx of women looking for a warm place to stay this winter.

300 women are turned away from shelters in the city because they don’t have the room. Mary’s Place, part of Good Shepherd ministries, has only 20 beds, with five cots for overflow. They are hoping that in a city meeting today that recommendations from a recent report are approved, and that would bring among other things 10 new beds between December 1st and May 31st as well as three new staff: two case management workers and one housing support worker.

Kristene Viljasoo, the director of Mary’s Place calls these temporary fixes. “The average life span for a Canadian woman is 81, and the average life span for a homeless woman is 39. We’re really trying to put a band-aid on the winter months, and then look for better long-term solutions.”

If councillor approve the recommendations in today’s meeting it will cost over $200,000. The meeting is at 1:30 at Hamilton City Hall.