Hamilton’s first Muslim women’s shelter to open in November

Hamilton's first Muslim women's shelter, Nisa Homes, is slated to open in November.

Yasmine Youssef, program director of Nisa Homes, said the team decided to branch out to the city after they started receiving calls from women in Hamilton in January.

The organization received more than 40 applications from Hamilton within a month earlier this year asking for shelter services at their Mississauga and Scarborough locations.

We didn't have a team or presence in Hamilton at that time. But that's how desperate they were while reaching out to us," Youssef said.

The shelter will focus on providing culturally sensitive services to immigrant women, refugees, and non-status women fleeing domestic violence, homelessness or poverty - especially amid rising interest rates and inflation.

Women coming to the shelter don't have to be Muslim, but must be immigrants or refugees. Services at the location will be offered in English, French, Arabic, Punjabi, Farsi and Somali, among other languages.

Nisa Homes has 10 locations across Canada. Now, with more immigrants and refugees calling Hamilton home, the shelter is working to provide a service that's meeting the needs of these communities," Youssef said.

Youssef said newcomers often struggle to find the services because they don't speak the language or they struggled to access services because of racism, Islamophobia, or for the fear of being judged."

She said many from war-torn countries are fleeing trauma and can be met with systemic barriers" that don't recognize their work or education credentials while facing discrimination as they start from scratch.

Non-status women already facing violence, for example, can also face the risk of losing their job or facing eviction, said Youssef. They're already vulnerable. They're already in a difficult situation. They don't need to be judged. They need to be helped. And they need to be able to access services and resources fairly just as anyone else can."

Youssef said opening a location in Hamilton, which has a growing newcomer population, will help reduce the barriers for immigrant women escaping violence, allowing them to feel familiar and safe in the environment - with people speaking the same language and understanding their cultural background without judgment.

There can be a higher level of stigma, misunderstanding and misconception about Muslim women leaving an abusive partner, Youssef said. A lot of things are misused and misquoted to justify actions and that happens in so many religions and cultures," making it harder for women to leave.

More than half the women's shelters in Canada reported an increase in the number of crisis calls compared to before the pandemic, according to Statistics Canada.

It's the same for shelters in Hamilton, which are constantly overwhelmed with a higher influx of calls.

Last month, Rob Mastroianni, the city's manager for residential care facilities and the emergency shelter system, told The Spectator the social and economic effects of the pandemic exacerbated pressures within Hamilton's emergency shelter system, and also the provincially run Violence Against Women's (VAW) system, putting vulnerable families, often female-headed, under significant strain."

Nisa Homes said its Hamilton location would help alleviate pressure on the city's existing shelters. Nisa Homes' new location will have 16 beds and cribs for children, two kitchens, a living room, a dining room, and space for children to play.

We're hiring people who have gone through lived experiences coming to Canada as an immigrant or refugee, so they understand those challenges and they can cater the services to those," Youssef said.

The average length of stay at Nisa Homes would be three months - helping women getting get on track to becoming self-sufficient.

Ritika Dubey is a reporter at The Spectator. rdubey@thespec.com