Members of the YWCA Cambridge will be out today trying to connect with women and gender-diverse individuals experiencing homelessness.
The effort is in support of the Region of Waterloo's Point in Time Count, which aims to paint a picture of the number of people experiencing homelessness in the community.
When it comes to women in particular, accurate data can be hard to find given many don't come forward.
The term hidden homelessness refers to individuals who won't report their situation due to fears of violence, family situations involving children or feelings of shame.
Through community partnerships with organizations like the AIDS Committee of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo & Area, the Coalition of Muslin Women, Marillac Place and by visiting lesser known places within the city women tend to be, YWCA staff are hoping to gain more clarity on the situation.
"Part of our motivation is to be able to do advocacy and systems change work around women's homelessness, particularly in creating programs and supports that reflect what women actually need," Jennifer Gordon, manager for advocacy and research for YWCA Cambridge, said.
"In the early days when we were working on creating a case for our women's shelter project, the question we kept getting was 'how many women are experiencing homelessness in Cambridge?' It's very hard to get an understanding of their experience and have them included in ways we come to understand homelessness in our community."
Gordon said traditionally, the count doesn't have much success when it comes to hidden homelessness and that's part of what prompted the YWCA to make the pitch to the region to try and tackle the issue.
Teams of outreach workers are set up in Cambridge and Kitchener to try and contact as many women as possible.
"Non-profit organizations are doing activities to try and connect with folks experiencing homelessness," she said.
"We'll have two teams on the ground available to have conversations."
Along with the count, a social media campaign has taken place and a survey is being made available to try and get a more in-depth look at the context of people's experiences. The survey is optional but a gift card is given for participation
"We're interested in trying to find out more about how women are or aren't supported," Gordon said.
"And ways we can come to create better supports. We need to understand folks who aren't visible."
With the sensitivity around the issue, Gordon wants people to understand interactions are set up to be a safe and positive experience.
It's all part of the goal of eradicating women's homelessness.
"Just saying 'hey, I'm here,' is something that's just as valuable in this process," she said.
"We want to do something with this data, we want to create change. We want to help women get out of homelessness quicker and ideally prevent it from happening altogether. We're never going to get to that point if we don't have data that can support decisions and encourage funding from upper tiers of government."
Individuals interested in coming forward for participation can do so until the end of the day tomorrow by contacting [email protected] or through the YWCA Cambridge's Facebook page.
