New transitional housing in Brandon for homeless Indigenous women welcomes 1st resident
CBC
A new first-of-its-kind safe house in Brandon that will offer supportive programming for Indigenous women who are at high risk due to homelessness opened its doors last week.
Chelsea's House is named for Chelsea Cote, 35, a chronically homeless Indigenous woman who died in February from what is believed to be toxic drug poisoning.
The first person to move into the seven-bed supportive housing unit is Danette Hanmore, 38, a relative of Cote's.
Hanmore says she had given up on finding a place after living on and off the streets for years. As she was growing up, her family bounced around different cities in Canada. She and her children eventually settled in Brandon.
It can be hard when you can't find stable housing, she said.
"People don't feel safe," said Hanmore.
She also feels Chelsea's House can help everyone in the community by showing women they are valued, loved and respected.
"If you show love, you know how far you get," she said. "That's all that worked for me, was somebody showed me just a little bit of love, and it taught me to love myself again."
Since January 2023, the city of 54,000 has recorded 284 Indigenous women experiencing homelessness — a rise of about 122 per cent since 2020, according to Brandon's Homelessness Individuals Families Information System, a database that tracks homelessness in the city.
Since 2020, at least 12 Indigenous women who used homelessness services in Brandon have died, according to HIFIS, but the database cautions the actual number is likely higher.
That shows why Chelsea's House is needed in the southwestern Manitoba city, says Megan McKenzie, lead researcher with Brandon's Action Research on Chronic Homelessness, also known as the ARCH project.
ARCH has partnered with the Manitoba Métis Federation's Housing First program to operate the supportive housing, using federal funding.
McKenzie says since her research project began in November, it's had 102 interviews with unhoused Brandonites. Those interviews include two women who died during the study period.
"If they don't get the support and the help that they need, they could be the next murdered and missing Indigenous women," McKenzie said.
