New women’s shelter opens in Sudbury

A new women's shelter called the Elizabeth Fry Society Safe Harbour House has been operating for just more than two weeks now in Greater Sudbury.

Officials said it’s being well-received and is helping to ease capacity issues at other shelters.

It’s a nine-bed overnight shelter in the heart of a residential neighbourhood on Kingsmount Boulevard in Sudbury. It opens every night at 9 p.m. and closes at 8 a.m.

“The purpose of the shelter for E Fry was to meet unique needs of women and gender diverse people,” said Cory Roslyn, executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society.

“We really wanted them to have a safe place a night where they might have some privacy have a private shower, something to fill their belly and then they can go out in the morning and access whatever services that they need to during the day.”

The shelter is low-barrier, which means no drug use allowed inside but people under the influence are not turned away.

“So a low-barrier shelter system just means that individuals can come in, for example, under the influence of drugs and alcohol,” said Tyler Campbell, director of child and social services for the City of Greater Sudbury.

“The key is allowing them a very safe to stay and then have that conversation about housing over a longer term.”

Officials at Elizabeth Fry said they recognize the importance of gendered services.

“The vast majority of the women that we work with and support in our community have experienced violence in their lifetime, they have histories of trauma usually at the hands of men and so we wanted to provide a safe space for them,” said Roslyn.

The cost to run the shelter is $50,000 a month, which is paid for by the province’s social services relief funding. The city said it will present an evaluation of the new shelter in May to show its impact on capacity within the entire local shelter system.