Second-stage Housing Opens

The two-storey wood-frame has 22 second-stage homes for women and gender-diverse people leaving violence, including transgender women, Two-Spirit and non-binary people, and their dependent children in Port Alberni and surrounding areas.

Project leader Ellen Frood said they were starting a plan to begin fundraising for a small facility when she received a call from BC Housing.

“And the person said to me ‘Ellen, you might want to be in Victoria tomorrow’ and I said ‘why would that be?’ and she said ‘I can’t really say why but I think you might be at the legislature tomorrow’. I went, and they announced 22 units of housing so we’d been planning 8, now all of a sudden we a project for 22, so that launched it,” she said.

The $9 million facility has fully furnished family suites as well as single room apartments, where women can stay for up to 18 months as they build new lives.

The land was donated by the City, and Flandangles helped decorate the suites and rooms.