“I didn’t know what safety felt like,” an Alice House client shared. “Now … I know what it feels like to have somewhere safe to live.”
We should all feel safe and supported at home. Yet in Nova Scotia more than 30% of women report experiences with intimate partner violence (IPV) – so many that it was declared an epidemic in 2024. Across Canada, 6.2 million women over the age of 15 have experienced psychological, physical, or sexual abuse in the context of an intimate relationship.
For many survivors, the biggest barrier to leaving an abusive relationship isn’t a lack of courage, but a lack of safe, stable housing and access to basic needs. When someone leaves an abusive partner, they often also leave behind their home, financial security, and social supports. Emergency shelters or family can play an essential role, but short- term stays don’t always meet the long-term needs of individuals and families trying to rebuild their lives.
Second-stage housing organizations, like Alice House, fill those gaps. We welcome families into safe homes and walk alongside them in a trauma-informed way for up to two years as they transition to stability and eventually secure long-term housing.
Alice House provides more than a roof. A secure home offers survivors time to regain control of their finances, access counselling and build community. This is where they can begin to heal from trauma and learn what healthy relationships look like. For children, Alice House provides safety, stability and counselling so that families can break cycles of violence and build a future free from fear or violence.
When survivors have a safe place to land, everything else becomes possible: healing, independence, and hope.