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The Women’s Center delivering Safe Haven program to better aid women in crisis with housing
The Women’s Center is kicking off the new year with big news that moves Raleigh one step closer to ending homelessness among women. After recently receiving several grants to assist with funding, Wake County’s only day center exclusively for marginalized single women experiencing homelessness plans to expand its services to include a Safe Haven program.
“Based on our review of programs being offered locally, no one in the Wake County/Triangle area has a Safe Haven program,” says Executive Director Amy Smith. “Safe Haven is different because there are very few, if any, barriers.” Indeed, this form of supportive housing is designated for “chronically and long-term homeless women,” she explains, many of whom “tend to have severe and persistent mental illness, which keeps them from being able to thrive in a standard overnight shelter.”
Smith estimates The Women’s Center will be able to accommodate 12 permanent beds on its lower level for Safe Haven clients, with four to five of those beds reserved for medical respite thanks to the organization’s collab with WakeMed. “They’ve been incredible partners,” says Smith, “and we’re so happy to have that relationship with them.”
In this intimate, trauma-informed environment, staff will provide women with daily meals, clothing and storage space; help them obtain vital docs; and more. “With such a small population of 12 people, we can work intensively with them while they’re here,” maintains Smith. And, once Safe Haven is up and running—“by the end of March, for sure, is our goal,” she reveals—the nonprofit will introduce a recovery program five or six nights a week to round out its support offerings.
Ultimately, Smith sees Safe Haven as an opportunity for the community to get involved and learn more about The Women’s Center, as well as homelessness among women. “If you drive around Raleigh, you don’t see a lot of women outside who look homeless. You see far more men,” she says. “So it will give it a face and it will help people understand women experience homelessness as well—and they experience it differently.”
She hopes as awareness of the issue expands, so too will the number of individuals willing to dedicate their time and resources to breaking the cycle of homelessness and empowering women in crisis to realize and fulfill their dreams.
“My challenge to the staff is let’s work ourselves out of business,” Smith emphasizes. “We will know when there are no homeless women in Raleigh that we can close our doors—that will be a success.” wcwc.org
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