YWCA Cambridge is working to address women’s homelessness in Cambridge by establishing an emergency women’s shelter this winter.
Located at Grace Bible Church in Cambridge, the 20-bed, 24-hour shelter will be the only location in the region dedicated to women and gender diverse individuals experiencing homelessness.
Kim Decker, CEO of YWCA Cambridge, said the shelter will also provide wraparound services, such as access to a mental health and addictions counsellor, an outreach worker, a community development worker, primary care and a transition worker.
The emergency shelter opened on Feb. 24, 2025.
The Region of Waterloo will be funding the shelter’s operating costs through the Fee for Service Program for services to address homelessness.
While the funding is being used this winter for an emergency shelter to provide immediate support to women during the colder months, the YWCA Cambridge’s intention is to find a location in the new year for a permanent women’s shelter.
The need for a women’s shelter became apparent through Project Willow—a research project conducted by the YWCA and funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada—which looked at the extent of women and gender-diverse individuals experiencing homelessness and survivors of gender-based violence in the region.
“In Project Willow, we actually talked to women who had experienced homelessness or who were homeless at the time,” Decker said.
Through the project, the YWCA Cambridge found that 74 per cent of women who experience homelessness are also experiencing gender-based violence on a weekly basis. As a result, many of these individuals choose to forgo accessing services such as shelters to stay hidden.
During the most recent PiT count in October 2024, the YWCA made an intentional effort to seek out women experiencing hidden homelessness to portray a more accurate account within the data.
While all the 2024 PiT count data has yet to be released, the count found that 2,371 people were experiencing homelessness in the region, which is more than double the number in 2021.
Once the YWCA Cambridge embarked on securing a location emergency women’s shelter, they also knew they wanted to operate the shelter differently than a traditional one.
Based on research being conducted by the National Women’s Housing and Homelessness network, Decker said they knew a smaller site with wraparound services that functioned 24-hours a day would have the greatest impact.
“Traditionally, in an emergency shelter, folks go in and have supper, stay overnight, have breakfast and then are expected to leave in the day,” Decker said. “We knew that we were putting women back out into unsafe situations by doing that. That’s one of the reasons we decided to do the model in a different way.”
Looking beyond this winter, the YWCA Cambridge plans to continue their search for a permanent location for a women’s shelter once the emergency location is up and running.
While the emergency shelter undergoes renovations, the YWCA has put out a call to the community for donations for capital funds to purchase furniture, such as beds, appliances and more.
“When we announced the shelter in August, there has been such support from the community,” Decker said.
“People have [made] amazing donations so that women have other things that they can access in the shelter. This has been a really a true example of when a community comes together,” she said.
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