Funding Transition Housing: Rebuilding the Path to Safety
Survivors of intimate-partner violence in Peel Region are being forced to choose between homelessness or returning to unsafe situations. Our crisis shelters and the Region’s only transition house, Armagh, are at full capacity.
Mississauga Councillor Natalie Hart is calling for action at Peel Regional Council to address the urgent need for operational funding for transition housing and shelters. It is time to rebuild the pathway from crisis to stability.
The Reality
Crisis shelters in Peel provide short-term safety, often six to eight weeks, but some stays now last up to a year as survivors wait for a next step. Without transition housing, they have nowhere safe to go.
Armagh offers two to four years of stable housing and wraparound supports, helping survivors heal, rebuild their lives, and move toward permanent, affordable housing. Yet Ontario has not provided operational funding for gender-based violence transition housing since the mid-1990s.
Programs like Armagh rely on the Region of Peel’s partnership and continuous fundraising to keep doors open, while others across Ontario have closed due to lack of funding. Without operational support, new units cannot open and survivors are left without long-term options for safety.
The Plan
Create a Provincial GBV Transition Housing Operating Fund to support staffing, programming, and maintenance.
Strengthen the Continuum of Care so survivors can move safely from crisis to two to four years of transition housing and then independence.
Support Municipal and Regional Partners through provincial operating dollars, not property taxes or short-term grants.
The Call to Action
The Province of Ontario must:
Restore and expand operational funding for GBV transition housing.
Fund the full continuum of care from crisis to independence.
Partner with municipalities and regions to ensure survivors have the space, safety, and time they need to rebuild.
Every survivor deserves more than a few weeks of safety. They deserve years of stability, healing, and hope. It is time to fund transition housing again.
Read the full article published in the Brampton Guardian, by Mississauga News Reporter Ayesha Ghaffar: Councillor calls for tangible action on intimate partner violence