Alice Housing
June 13, 2005
By Nicole Zummach
DARTMOUTH, NS // For many Canadian women the biggest challenge in a typical day might be battling rush hour traffic, or negotiating with a headstrong two-year-old. The sad fact is that many more are facing the choice of one more day of domestic abuse, or life as a homeless woman. Luckily, there are organizations like Alice Housing, which has been offering support to victims of domestic violence since 1983. With just four staff members, the agency provided housing and support for forty women and sixty-one children last year, plus responded to 4,442 requests for service. Despite being so busy, they were able to take a moment to celebrate
their first Donner Canadian Foundation Award for Provision of Basic Necessities in
2004. CharityVillage spoke with executive director Joanne Bernard about the support and programs offered by Alice Housing, the challenges facing victims of domestic violence, and the big results being produced by this small organization.
CharityVillage: You have offered second-stage housing for years, then in May you expanded to include third-stage housing. Why now? What will this mean for your organization?
Joanne Bernard: Right now, twenty woman and eighteen children are calling Alice Housing their home. Twenty-two of our units are second-stage, where they can stay for up to two years, and we now have three units that are third-stage, where they can stay for up to four years. We did a third-stage housing study a couple of years ago and asked women, 'what do you need after your term here?' We found that affordable housing is always an issue. So for our third-stage housing it's more of a normal landlord-tenant relationship and there are very few restrictions. It's basically an extension of support services while women are, perhaps, attending school or trying to get back into the workforce.
I think what this will do is show other agencies and women who are using our services now that we are in it for the long haul. We're not just a transitional type of agency. And because it's one of only two [third-stage housing programs] in the country, hopefully it will highlight our profile within the greater community and with government as well. Only 13% of our budget is from government, with the rest coming from rental revenues and fundraising.
CV: What types of support and programs do you offer beyond housing?
JB: We offer programs for both women and children. They include anything from writing a resume, to understanding the cycle of abuse, to credit counselling. It runs the gamut. For kids we have play therapy, we do a camp in the summer, and we also do recreational activities for them.
CV: You closely monitor women who have completed your program and 92% do not return to their abuser. With such a high success rate, what do you think makes you different than other similar agencies?
JB: It's the fact that support doesn't end when women leave our program. All ex-tenants are welcomed back to the program. They attend the workshops, they still use the one-on-one counselling here, and they know that we are going to be here no matter what. I think that gives them support when they need it, but also encouragement to move on. So, they very rarely will go back to their abuser.
CV: What are some of the most pressing issues or challenges that need to be addressed regarding violence against women?
JB: Unfortunately, one of the biggest things is the affordable housing aspect. There was a recent study released by the Halifax Regional Municipality called The Portrait of Streets and Shelters. It found that 53% of the women and children who were homeless were so because of domestic violence. So the choice is 'do I stay in an abusive situation or do I become homeless?' Neither one of those is an acceptable option but that's what a lot of women are faced with. When they take their children and leave they are, for all intents and purposes, homeless. The men don't leave, and often times the men will shut them out of their bank accounts, so they have very little access to money. Their standard of living declines dramatically once they make that decision to leave. So I would say that just as important as safety is the affordable housing aspect.
CV: One thing that the Donner Awards evaluate is strategic management. What strategic management practices do you employ at Alice Housing?
JB: Strategically, I think it started a couple of years ago in terms of expansion. The board now wants to move more into a programming mode. We're looking at maybe getting a management company to handle the maintenance and the everyday running of all the units instead of our staff. That way we can focus more on the programming. My personal management style is very collaborative. At the end of the day I still make the final decision, but it's not without a lot of input from the three other people I work with. And when we make major decisions we often go to the women. We recently changed our logo and the opinion that mattered the most to me at that time was that of our clients.
CV: What else do you want people to know about your organization?
JB: Well, just that we've been here for a long time. We have a wonderful base of service groups, and volunteers, and people who drop off donations on a continual basis. That is very gratifying to see. When you see women thrive and kids are happy and feel safe, it's a great feeling. The women who walk through these doors are courageous people and they deserve the good things in life. We're a small shop but we do a lot of big work.
For more information about Alice Housing,
visit: www.alicehousing.ca.
To learn more about the Donner Awards, visit: www.fraserinstitute.ca/donner/index.asp.
