New BrunswickMonths after the province boosted funding for groups housing victims of domestic violence, organizations in Moncton and Kent County are struggling to get women out of emergency shelters and into affordable housing.New provincial funding keeps the lights on but it’s not enough to meet demand, shelter staff sayKatelin Belliveau · CBC News · Posted: Oct 31, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesTransitional housing services are meant to be a temporary solution for victims fleeing emergency situations before they can find long term housing. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)New Brunswick women and children fleeing domestic violence are staying in emergency shelters longer because they can’t afford a safe place of their own.It’s a reality Renee Charron said she sees daily.Charron is the executive director of Crossroads for Women, the largest transitional housing service for women in the province.“Literally everything is at stake, including their lives,” said Charron.When women in crisis enter transitional housing at Crossroads for Women, it’s meant to be a safe haven for a few weeks until they can find long term housing, Charron said. But with fewer affordable options on the market, more women are being forced into the organization’s limited subsidized housing units which also fill up quickly.Renee Charron, executive director of Crossroads for Women, says a boost in provincial funding has helped the organization retain staff but there are no plans to expand the emergency shelter yet. (Katelin Belliveau/CBC)Less than ten years ago, the organization was regularly filling its 17 emergency beds. Today, the organization has grown and its 41 beds are often full, leaving staff no choice but to refer women to other emergency shelters.The Serenity House, which serves Kent County, is one of the smaller shelters welcoming the overflow of women in need form the Moncton area. It has space for 10 women.While there are few vacancies at the moment, associate director Valerie Roy-Lang said they don’t last long.“There’s very limited availability of affordable housing in the Kent County area,” she said. “So sometimes they’re forced to have to move far away and there aren’t women that have a lot of money a lot of the time.”Valerie Roy-Lang, associate director at the Violence Prevention Centre for Kent County, says it’s challenging for children who enter emergency shelters to feel at home because they don’t always understand why they are there. (Katelin Belliveau/CBC)Roy-Land said staff at the centre are also overwhelmed by an influx of newcomers in need of services.”They don’t want to have to say no to someone,” she said. “Sometimes we don’t have a choice. It definitely is a heartbreaking experience.”New provincial funding helps, but it’s not enoughThe Violence Prevention Centre was just recently able to hire someone to look after children who come into emergency shelters while their mothers are in counselling sessions or occupied.“You had another tenant that was taking care of the child while mom was talking to the worker,” Roy-Lang said.She credits that new position, and other basic operational improvements, to a boost in the organization’s provincial funding, which came this year.WATCH | New shelter funding enough to keep the lights on, not expand, says advocate:How N.B.’s affordable housing problem is hurting women fleeing violenceBoth large and small shelters for New Brunswick women fleeing domestic violence are running out of room, as some clients require longer stays in transitional housing because of a lack of affordable options. In July, the province announced it was injecting $9.2 million dollars into the Department of Women’s Equality budget to fund organizations addressing gender-based violence.This came a month after the province declared the issue an epidemic in New Brunswick in June.“It’s been the same reality since we opened our doors in 1981,” Charron said. “It is disheartening to hear that all of the women’s shelters in the area are experiencing the same reality.”Crossroads for Women is getting $4.6 million from the increase in the provincial budget.Minister responsible for women’s equality, Lyne Chantal Boudreau, says that 90 per cent of the women’s equality budget goes directly to organizations working to prevent gender-based violence. (Victoria Walton/CBC)According to Charron, it’s allowing them to pay their staff a “living wage”, keep the lights on and buy essential supplies like medication – all of which was not in reach before the boost, she said.Prior to the most recent funding increase, the province increased the amount of money allocated to organizations fighting gender-based violence twice over the last 15 years, according to the Domestic Violence Association of New Brunswick.“…Neither of which were significant enough to fix the deficits these organizations were facing each year,” executive director Maureen Levangie wrote in an email to CBC.No one from the Department of Women’s Equality agreed to an interview, but in an email to CBC News a spokesperson said the province is aware that many transitional housing centers are running at capacity.“We are working closely with our partners to continue making progress by building sustainable and trauma-informed programs that will lessen the demand for services over the long term,” the email read.Both Charron and Roy-Lang said expanding shelter spaces is a must, but neither of their budgets allow for that to happen soon and broader change is still needed.“This is much more complex than simply building more beds or, you know, having more apartment buildings,” Charron said. “It is a systemic problem.”ABOUT THE AUTHORKatelin Belliveau is a CBC reporter based in Moncton.
Lack of affordable housing in N.B. keeping victims of domestic violence in shelters longer
