Summerside emergency shelter for women and children to open in fall

A shelter for women and children facing homelessness in Summerside is expected to open in a few months.

LifeHouse Transitional Housing and Emergency Shelter is set to open this fall after renovations. The project is a partnership between the Boys and Girls Club of Summerside and the LifeHouse advisory committee. 

"We're very excited," said Adam Binkley, executive director of Boys and Girls Club of Summerside. 

Binkley said the plan is to turn two houses into LifeHouse. The homes will have a total of five units. Two will be for a women's emergency shelter, and the rest will be dedicated to transitional housing for families. 

The federal government is giving just under $300,000 to the shelter, and the province put about $100,000 into it this past winter. Community members, businesses and other stakeholders have also given to the project.

'Dreaming about this for a long time'

The LifeHouse advisory committee has been working on establishing the shelter for the past two years. 

Margie Fowler, a member of the committee, said a the shelter is needed in Prince County.

"If you drive down the street in Summerside you can see people, particularly in the winter months, inside the bank machines sitting on the floor," said Fowler. 

"Drive up through the streets and see cars parked there with women and children in the cars late at night."

Fowler said the shelter recently hired a co-ordinator to help run the facility.

Susan DesRoche, another member of the committee, said over the next few months, more people will be hired to ensure 24/7 coverage of the shelter. The committee is currently hiring a case manager and will later bring on six case workers. 

"I've been dreaming about this for a long time," DesRoche said. 

"I'd always said if I won the lottery, I would open a house for young women so that they could, you know, grow into being moms and keeping their children with them."

Future goals

The Boys and Girls Club of Summerside hopes to build new programming into the shelter as well to better support women and children in need. 

"Our goal is to provide a strengthening women and women with families program that will offer employability skills, help reduce barriers they are facing that will help them secure employment," said Binkley.

The LifeHouse advisory committee said it plans to eventually expand the shelter to 10 units.

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