The housing crisis and the rising cost of living is making it harder than ever for women to leave Bryony House, an emergency shelter for women fleeing intimate partner violence, according to Executive Director Rachel Shepherd.

She says they’re doing their part by providing a safe haven for these people, but their rooms are full.

Right now, the shelter is full. They have 20 adults and 10 children. But 10 women and five children are also on their waitlist.

After the government declared domestic violence an epidemic in the fall, she says they should get epidemic-level funding.

“Our lens, our piece of this puzzle, is providing a safe haven for women and children fleeing intimate partner violence. But we’re full, and we could do more, and we want to do more, but we need more support,” says Shepherd.

In the last three months, six Maritimers have been killed as a result of intimate partner violence.

More funding needed

The province of Nova Scotia also declared intimate partner violence an epidemic in the fall, so Shepherd says they should get epidemic-level funding.

Shepherd says they want to make sure the people entering the shelter can leave to find safe and affordable housing, but some are staying up to a year.

She says the intention was that people would stay up to eight weeks.

“To be honest, I think that it’s a perfect storm in the worst way,” she says.

The housing crisis, coupled with other factors, like how difficult it is to reach mental health resources in a timely and affordable manner, the daunting and potentially costly legal system—those things make it even more difficult for people to leave intimate partner violence.

When people stay longer than they should or need to stay, that keeps people on the wait list, too.

They’re also the only emergency shelter for women in the whole Halifax Regional Municipality that helps people experiencing intimate partner violence, says Shepherd, and that’s not enough.

Their solution is to create their own second stage housing, a place where people can have their own housing sooner.

But that would need funding from the municipal, provincial, and federal levels of government.

Every organization that helps women flee intimate partner violence needs funding, she says.

And the project is still in the early planning stages, so Shepherd couldn’t provide a timeline of when they might get their housing.

They’ll always help people, says Shepherd

Although the shelter is full, Bryony House belongs to the Transition house Association of Nova Scotia. So they can connect people to shelters across the province, which also helps people who may not be able to stay in, for example, Cape Breton, where they may not be safe.

While on the waitlist, people can also access resources to plan how they’ll leave their situation.

On top of housing, they offer 24/7 women’s counselors, children’s counselors, meals and things to meet a person’s basic needs, and baby supplies, like formula and diapers.

“People often come to us with just their clothes on their back,” Shepherd says.

Although the shelter is full, Shepherd says they will always help people.

They’ve even put people in their officers as a temporary solution just to give them a safe place to stay.

“If someone is in imminent risk of danger, we will find a way. We’re never going to turn someone away in that circumstance,” she says.