Welcome to Nellie’s first ever digital newsletter!

With ever-increasing postage costs, and in an effort to be responsive to donor concerns over the environment, we have moved to a digital format. Many of our donors and supporters also prefer to read publications on their smartphone or other mobile device.

As someone who is used to reading hard copy, this new format will take some time for me to get used to, as it may be for some of you as well. I’m interested in hearing your feedback on the new format.

Housing… What housing?!

Throughout the past year, the dominant news story in the GTA has been the lack of affordable housing. With the average price of a detached house in Toronto at $916,567 and rent for a one-bedroom apartment averaging $1,800 (not including utilities), even people with good incomes are having difficulty finding a place to live. This is an issue that is affecting people at all socio-economic levels and ages; from retirees to millennials.

Finding affordable housing is even harder for women who are in shelter, homeless, or trying to escape an abusive relationship. For these women, the competition for safe, affordable housing often means waiting months, if not years, to change their circumstances.

Realistically, it takes an average of six months to house a woman residing in shelter. At Nellie’s, our goal is to work with women in the shelter to obtain housing within 90 days of their arrival.

Women fleeing violence often face a multitude of challenges, from the effects of trauma to the lack of financial resources needed to pay first and last months’ rent.

For women living in the community who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, the challenge of finding housing is often compounded by mental health issues, substance use or criminalization, which makes finding stable, affordable housing more difficult.

Maintaining existing housing is another concern facing many low-income women.

 With the support of our funders and loyal donors we are able to help these women maintain their housing. Providing women access to emergency funding to pay rent or advocating on their behalf with landlord tenant issues are just a couple of the ways we are able to help.

With donor support, Nellie’s will continue to operate programs and services to lessen homelessness for women and their children, whether the cause is family violence, mental health, or any other reason that results in having to deal with the impact from trauma. We will advocate for affordable housing in our community and hold all levels of government to the promises made in their spring budgets: increased investment in affordable housing; universal drug coverage for children and youth; and increased licensed daycare spaces.

Justice and equity,