Alberta women's shelters admit fewer callers as cost of living pushes women to stay in unsafe homes

Only 18 per cent of women who called an Alberta women's shelter last year were admitted, the lowest rate since before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters. The network says cost of living is a big part of why.

The ACWS report, The Cost of Leaving: 2024-26 Shelter Impact Report, found that most calls requesting shelter admission between 2025 and 2026 did not result in an admission. Callers who are turned away are referred to other services or other shelters, or placed on waiting lists. Calls to member shelters fell by about 1,000 compared with the year before.

Cat Champagne, the network's executive director, said the drop raises a question the sector has to answer. "We need to look at why aren't they coming, what are the pathways that don't exist?" she told reporters. She said rising costs leave women with an impossible choice: stay in an unsafe relationship, or risk poverty, homelessness or food insecurity.

Report author Miranda Pilipchuk found that 72 per cent of survivors completing a danger assessment were at severe or extreme risk of being killed by a current or former partner, the highest share since before the pandemic. Strangulation reports are also higher than ever before. "When survivors are forced to stay longer in abusive situations, because they cannot afford to leave, they may experience heightened risk," Pilipchuk said.

The report recommends better housing pathways for survivors, faster access to financial support and more equitable funding across shelters.

The pressure is landing on shelters that were already stretched. Carolyn Lavallee, executive director of the Mountain Rose Women's Shelter Association in Rocky Mountain House, said her shelter is struggling to provide quality services on a limited budget. Transporting one woman out of town cost the shelter 7 per cent of its yearly budget. "Shelters cannot do this alone," Lavallee said.

That strain follows a provincial decision announced May 19 to cut funding to more than a dozen women's shelters, most in rural areas, totalling nearly $1 million a year. The cuts took effect July 1. ACWS had asked Minister Searle Turton to delay them by a year and to release the funding methodology. Published reports say reductions were capped at five per cent and that most shelters saw funding increases. A Camrose shelter reported a funding cut, and the province encouraged affected shelters to pursue new funding sources.