Opinion: Nova Scotia survivors of intimate partner violence still wait for real change

Naming this crisis was just the first step. The second step must be urgent action, yet survivors and the groups who support them are still telling us the same thing: they don’t have the housing or the funding they need to keep people safe.

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For too many people, the greatest barrier to escaping abuse is housing. Despite incredible work building capacity, offering programming and creating housing, transition houses across this province are at capacity, there is precious little affordable housing and emergency shelters are strained by demand.

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The Houston government’s Survivors of Gender-Based Violence Housing Benefit, while welcome, can be too rigid to help in some urgent situations. Those who need the most help are the ones most often falling through the cracks; this is particularly true for Indigenous and racialized women, people living with disabilities and trans and gender-diverse folks, who all face disproportionate rates of violence.

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