Please forward this to ONE Canadian immigrant today and tell them to subscribe here.
TL;DR
The Women's Centre of Calgary released the Unaddressed report on April 22, finding that 49% of the 147 women and gender-diverse people surveyed about hidden homelessness were born outside Canada.
Hidden homelessness includes couch surfing, staying with abusive partners, sleeping in cars, and other arrangements that fall outside shelter counts.
Intimate partner violence, immigration status barriers, landlord discrimination, and unaffordable rent were identified as primary drivers.
The report recommends gender-responsive housing frameworks, expanded affordable housing, and stronger cross-sector coordination.
The Centre for Newcomers helped ensure newcomer women's lived experience shaped the research.
Nearly half of women and gender-diverse Calgarians surveyed about hidden homelessness were born outside Canada, according to a new report from the Women's Centre of Calgary that describes a housing crisis largely invisible to standard shelter data.
The Unaddressed report, released Wednesday, surveyed 147 participants and conducted focus groups and key informant interviews with frontline workers, sector leaders, and people with lived experience. Its central finding is that women and gender-diverse people experiencing housing instability in Calgary are largely staying out of sight, cycling through couch surfing, unsafe housing, or abusive relationships rather than entering shelters or sleeping on the street.
Immigration status as a housing risk
Among newcomer participants, the most common reasons for losing housing were a relationship ending, affordability problems, or housing being unsafe for children, according to the Calgary Herald. Twelve percent of all participants linked their housing insecurity directly to immigration-related processes such as lengthy refugee claims and uncertain status.
Newcomer housing instability is a major factor in homelessness, and women with temporary or uncertain immigration status can face compounding risks if leaving a partner could jeopardize their legal standing or ability to work.
The Centre for Newcomers, one of five partner organizations on the project, said in a post that it helped ensure "first-hand lived experience from newcomer women was at the centre" of the research. "With 49% of participants born outside Canada, too many are slipping through systems that don't see their realities," the organization said.
Affordability and discrimination as two primary forces
The report's affordability data helps explain why hidden homelessness persists even when people are connected to services. More than half of respondents, 53%, said they could not afford rent at current market prices. Forty-three percent could not cover up-front costs such as damage deposits, utility hook-ups, and moving expenses. Nearly half, 48%, reported receiving income assistance or Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH), but those supports fell short of average market rent.
Almost two-thirds of respondents said they had faced some form of landlord discrimination.
Intimate partner violence as significant pathway to homelessness
The report identifies intimate partner violence as a "significant pathway" into homelessness for women and gender-diverse people. The Women's Centre of Calgary has noted that domestic violence was one of the leading drivers of women's homelessness, with the Calgary Police Service recording 4,351 domestic violence incidents in 2024, up from 4,289 the year before. Alberta shelters were already turning away survivors and children because of capacity limits.
More than one-third of survey participants said they could not access a shelter bed when they needed one, most often because of lack of space, safety concerns, or not knowing what services existed.
Recommendations
The report calls for a gender-responsive framework across Calgary's housing sector, stronger cross-sector coordination, the elimination of barriers to access, and expanded affordable housing that is safe and accessible. The underlying argument is that a homelessness response built mainly around emergency shelter beds and street outreach misses the women and gender-diverse people whose instability stays hidden.
Women represented 29% of Calgarians experiencing homelessness in the 2024 Point-in-Time Count. The report argues that figure is likely higher when hidden homelessness is included.
What this means for you
If you're a newcomer woman or gender-diverse person in Calgary dealing with housing problems:
Service providers may not ask about hidden homelessness directly. Be specific about your situation when seeking help.
The Centre for Newcomers offers housing support at centrefornewcomers.ca/lifeincanada.
