Elizabeth Harvie

Adsum for Women & Children

Adsum shelters and houses as many as 170 people each day and more than 400 persons in a year. Hundreds more use Adsum services and support without ever staying with us, often related to their basic needs for safe and affordable housing, food, clothing and connection. Adsum has a long history of working with marginalized individuals and families who experience poverty and homelessness. At Adsum, we know first-hand how poverty, systemic discrimination, gender inequality, racism, disabilities, and trauma intersect and create layered barriers to securing stable housing. Adsum clients face diverse social and personal obstacles that include, but are not limited to; mental illnesses, lack of education, single-parenthood, addictions, and histories of trauma and violence. The folks we work with are managing complex life challenges, while negotiating systems that further contribute to their marginalization, such as criminal justice, community services, child protection, and immigration systems. Adsum recognizes that the more marginalized an individual is, the more complex their experience of oppression will be, and the more likely they are to experience unstable housing and homelessness. We work from an anti-oppressive, feminist, trauma-informed framework. Adsum works predominantly with women, who are more likely to be poor than men, and are more vulnerable to homelessness and unstable housing. Women's homelessness is directly related to women's disproportionate experience of poverty, systemic discrimination, gender inequality, and violence. In 2008, Adsum instituted our trans-inclusion policy, recognizing that individuals who identify as transgender, non-binary, and gender-queer are especially vulnerable to discrimination in housing, and are vulnerable to violence in men's shelters. Vision: Everyone has a safe and secure home. Mission: To lead change in housing through advocacy, supports and services to end homelessness.