A new report paints a bleak picture of the housing situation for older women in Ottawa. Last year, there was a 20% increase in the number of women over the age of 50 living in a shelter.  That number jumped to more than 30% for women over 60.  Overall, our city saw a 5.2% increase in the number of people staying in emergency shelters last year. 

But for families, younger youth and older women, the picture is particularly bad.

Life was difficult for 68-year-old Sharon before she moved into with Cornerstone Housing for Women on Booth Street in Ottawa.

“I was so down and out when I came here,” she says, “so down and out.”

The former nurse from Thunder Bay was in a violent relationship, and then developed health issues; she ended up in emergency shelter.

“I tried to live a decent life all my life; that doesn't make any difference.”

The executive director of Cornerstone, Sue Garvey, says there are many women in Ottawa like Sharon, barely holding on. 

“They are living in places where they are barely paying the rent and they start to have health care issues and then some dementia starts setting in,” says Garvey, “all of a sudden that precarious housing they had puts them over the edge and they’re not able to make it anymore and they find themselves in our shelters as well.”

In its latest report, the Alliance to End Homelessness found that 20.1% more women over the age of 50 were seeking emergency shelter last year and 31.2% more among women Sharon's age.

Overall, 6,815 people stayed in a shelter last year; that's a 5% increase.  There were nearly 900 families, representing a 12.5% jump. 

The only decline was among single men.  The average length of their stay dropped from 65 to 61 nights.  Among youth, though, their average length of stay increased to 47 days.

Mike Bulthuis is the executive director Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa,

“We saw fewer young people access the shelter but those who did were there longer and were younger,” he says, “so more 16 and 17-year-olds in our shelters.”

Chad Edwards is one of those youth staying in a shelter, unable to find a place he can afford. 

“It’s crowded,” he says, “sometimes you don't even get a bed, you get a mat.  It's not good for me, pretty embarrassing I end up at a shelter.”

Sharon understands how that feels and doesn't know where she'd be were it not for Cornerstone.

“Not every gets this,” she says, as she wipes away a tear, “Not everybody.”

There are hopeful signs. The federal Liberals have announced a National Housing Strategy of $11 billion dollars over 11 years.

And locally, several new projects are underway, including three new housing projects for seniors.