INTRODUCTION

Twenty-five years ago, any discussion of the “homeless” in Canada referred to a relatively small number of transient single men living in “flop houses” in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver.Today, widespread homelessness in Canada is recognized as a ‘national disaster’ that is both rural and urban and which most dramatically affects women and children.

Women’s experiences of homelessness, however, still tend to be ignored. Homelessness is often equated exclusively with those seen on city streets, predominantly men. Although recent data suggests that in cities like Toronto, as many as one in four people living on the street may be women, street homelessness is not representative of most women’s experiences.For women with children, living on the street is an impossible option that is almost certain to mean losing their children. For single women, increased vulnerability to violence and sexual assault make street life something to be avoided at all costs. Existing shelter surveys indicate dramatic increases in the use of shelters by both single women and women with children, particularly Aboriginal women and black women

http://www.equalityrights.org/cera/docs/CERAWomenHous.htm [1]