The Women’s Y of Montreal has a unique mission: supporting vulnerable women on their path toward a better future by offering a safe, inclusive space that supports autonomy.
To help achieve that mission, they’ve opened Résidenti’elle – their newest social housing project – for women either escaping violence, at risk, in difficulty or dealing with housing instability.
“The vision behind the residential was to develop a housing project that would allow different women from all walks of life to cohabitate and to find a place that gave them back their dignity and their sense of safety, allowed them to live with their families, their children, and for single women to be able to break their isolation, make connections, and work on their goals, their life goals,” said Diana Pizzuti, the director of programs at Résidenti’elle.
“The project has 96 units in all, and we have 36 in the housing project without support, then we have 60 units that will welcome women who are single or single parents or caregivers who are looking for a place where they can get support within their living quarters,” Pizzuti began to explain.
“We have 19 units for first-stage housing. And then we have 18 units for second-stage housing,” she added.
The project offers a mix of temporary and permanent housing ranging from emergency shelter single rooms to large three-bedroom apartments, each with varying levels of psychosocial support.
“Part of the support services that we offer the women that we house is not only the individual counseling that they get from their counselors and the workshops that will be part of our program. Our programming will include workshops and expertise from the different programs of the YWCA,” said Pizzuti.
In addition to giving women access to the YWCA’s programs, which include a variety of services, from employability to the legal information clinic, to support groups and art therapy – the new project even offers round-the-clock care.
“There will always be someone here providing support services, but also ensuring safety. And so around the clock, we will have about 20, 22 people on staff that will be working to provide those 24-7 services.”
While Pizzuti tells CityNews they’ve already begun to welcome women into the program as of July 1st, many more will continue to arrive in the coming months.
“We’ve had about 300 applicants. So, we still have 200 more to process,” she explained.
