Gendered Homelessness, Mental Health, and Housing Insecurity (Montréal/Tiohtià:ke, QC): How Chez Doris Supports Women in Vulnerable Situations

Introduction

Chez Doris is a Montreal-based charitable organization located in downtown Montreal/Tiohtià:ke that supports women experiencing homelessness, housing insecurity, poverty, social isolation, violence, and health-related vulnerabilities. Founded in 1977, the organization emerged from conversations between activist Sheila Baxter and Doris Halfkenny Saele, a woman experiencing homelessness who had expressed the need for “a place to go without prying eyes or too many questions asked” before her death in 1974 [1]. This origin continues to shape Chez Doris’ identity as a women-centred, non-judgemental space grounded in dignity, inclusion, and safety.

Since its founding, Chez Doris has grown into one of Montreal’s largest women-centred support organizations, providing emergency shelter, food assistance, healthcare services, housing support, and community-based programming adapted to women living in precarious situations. Its mission is to support and empower women in vulnerable situations to reach their full potential through accessible services [2]. Beyond meeting immediate needs, Chez Doris addresses broader structural issues connected to women’s homelessness, including poverty, violence, healthcare inequities, mental health barriers, and long-term housing instability. This approach reflects growing recognition that homelessness is not uniquely a housing issue, but also a public health and social justice issue shaped by systemic inequalities [3].

Chez Doris’ work is guided by a trauma-informed, women-centred, and low-barrier approach. Recognizing that many women experiencing homelessness have experienced trauma, violence, poverty, or social exclusion, the organization prioritizes safety, dignity, trust, and accessibility across its services. These principles shape how programs are designed and delivered.

Research demonstrates that women experiencing homelessness are disproportionately affected by trauma, chronic stress, violence exposure, and unsafe living conditions linked to housing instability and economic precarity [6, 9, 13]. Mental health outcomes are also shaped by structural barriers such as limited access to healthcare, stigma, unsafe environments, and social isolation [15, 18]. For many women, homelessness therefore involves not only the loss of stable housing, but also the erosion of psychological safety, trust, and community connection.

Over the past several years, Chez Doris has expanded significantly in response to growing need across Montreal. The organization now operates a day shelter, night shelter, a health and social services centre, Indigenous support initiatives, food-security programs, hygiene services, housing assistance programs, financial administration support, and employability initiatives [4]. In November 2024, Chez Doris also resumed 24/7 frontline services in response to rising homelessness and winter-related vulnerability in Montreal [5].

This Community Knowledge Publication (CKP) examines women’s homelessness, mental-health inequities, and housing insecurity in Montreal through the work of Chez Doris. More specifically, it explores three interconnected local challenges: gendered and hidden homelessness, barriers to healthcare and mental-health support, and housing affordability and poverty. It also examines the communities most affected and the initiatives developed by Chez Doris to respond to them. The purpose of this publication is to mobilize both academic and community knowledge in a format that may support students, researchers, public-health practitioners, policymakers, and community organizations working on women-centred homelessness and health interventions in Montreal/Tiohtià:ke. As a student volunteer connected to Chez Doris, my understanding of these issues is informed both by academic research and community engagement. This publication relies primarily on publicly available reports, peer-reviewed literature, government data, and organizational publications in order to maintain transparency and respectful representation of both the organization and the women it serves.

Background: Key Local Challenges

Gendered and Hidden Homelessness

Women’s homelessness is frequently underrepresented in public homelessness data because it often takes less visible forms than men’s homelessness. The Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network estimates that women represent approximately 36% of people experiencing homelessness in Canada, while many others experience “hidden homelessness” through couch surfing, temporary accommodations, unsafe relationships, or overcrowded housing rather than visible street homelessness [6]. According to the Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network, approximately 7% of women in Canada have experienced hidden homelessness at some point in their lives [6]. In Quebec and Montreal, visible homelessness has increased substantially in recent years. Quebec’s 2025 point-in-time homelessness count (CityNews Montreal, 2026) identified more than 12,000 visibly unhoused individuals across participating regions, representing approximately a 20% increase since 2022 [7]. Montreal alone accounted for more than 5,000 visibly unhoused individuals, making it the region with the largest visible homeless population in the province [7].

However, these statistics likely underestimate women’s homelessness because many women avoid public spaces, emergency shelters, or street encampments due to concerns surrounding safety, harassment, violence, and exploitation [9, 11]. Research on gender and homelessness has consistently found that women experience homelessness differently than men, often through pathways linked to violence, caregiving responsibilities, and economic dependency [9, 11]. Women are more likely to lose housing due to domestic violence, unsafe relationships, financial dependency, and family instability [10, 22]. The federal Everyone Counts 2020-2022 point-in-time count (Government of Canada, 2023) found that women experiencing homelessness reported higher rates of violence-related housing instability and recent housing loss than men [10]. Gendered homelessness is closely connected to broader structural inequalities, including wage inequality, precarious employment, unpaid caregiving responsibilities, and gender-based violence [12, 23]. Consequently, women’s homelessness cannot be addressed solely through emergency shelter systems. Long-term responses must also address healthcare access, housing affordability, food insecurity, mental-health support, and economic precarity. Organizations such as Chez Doris play an important role in providing these supports.

Healthcare and Mental-Health Barriers

Women experiencing homelessness often face significant physical and mental-health challenges while simultaneously encountering barriers to healthcare access. Hwang and Burns (2014) found that homelessness is associated with increased rates of chronic illness, substance use, malnutrition, trauma exposure, and mental-health concerns, while also creating obstacles to accessing healthcare services [13]. Women are particularly vulnerable because many have histories of domestic violence, sexual violence, childhood trauma, or prolonged social isolation [14]. The Public Health Agency of Canada identifies housing, income, social exclusion, and access to healthcare as major social determinants influencing mental health outcomes [15]. Women experiencing homelessness often experience several overlapping risk factors while also facing institutional barriers such as discrimination, stigma, and distrust of healthcare systems [18].

Research by Wen, Hudak, and Hwang (2007) demonstrates that many unhoused individuals experience stigma and feelings of unwelcomeness within healthcare environments, discouraging them from seeking medical support altogether [18]. Chez Doris identifies healthcare exclusion as a major issue affecting the women it serves. Its healthcare programs respond to barriers such as limited access to family doctors, financial precarity, and inadequate preventative care [16]. Services provided through the organization include infection treatment, STI screening, nursing care, prescription renewals, physiotherapy, foot care, dental hygiene, psychosocial support, and referrals to medical specialists [16].

Mental-health concerns are highly prevalent among women experiencing homelessness. Goodman, Fels, and Glenn (2006) note that trauma and violence are common experiences among homeless women, while housing instability and chronic stress can contribute to emotional distress, hypervigilance, and adverse mental health outcomes [14, 17]. Community-based organizations such as Chez Doris provide low-barrier environments where women can access support while rebuilding trust and social connection. Indigenous women face additional healthcare inequities linked to colonialism, systemic racism, forced displacement, and cultural disconnection, while also being disproportionately represented among homelessness populations across Canada [19]. Research on Indigenous homelessness emphasizes the importance of culturally safe and Indigenous-led approaches to care [20].

Housing Affordability, Poverty, and Social Isolation

Montreal’s housing crisis has intensified homelessness and housing insecurity across the city. Rising rents, inflation, limited affordable housing availability, and increasing living costs have made housing stability increasingly difficult for low-income women, particularly those already experiencing economic precarity [21]. According to the Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network, approximately 28% of women-led households in Canada are considered to be in core housing need [6].

Housing precarity is especially severe for women leaving abusive relationships, older women living alone, newcomers, women relying on social assistance, and women living with disabilities [22, 28]. Statistics Canada (2026) reports that women continue to experience lower average incomes than men due to persistent wage inequality, unpaid caregiving labour, and employment precarity, contributing to ongoing economic vulnerability [23]. Older women are particularly vulnerable because fixed incomes and rising living costs can intensify both poverty and social isolation [28].

Food insecurity has also become increasingly connected to housing precarity in Montreal, with community organizations like Centraide of Greater Montreal reporting growing demand for emergency food services due to inflation and rising living costs [24]. In response, Chez Doris has significantly expanded its food-security programming, distributing tens of thousands of meals annually while operating grocery-assistance programs for women living in severe financial precarity [25].

Housing insecurity can also contribute to social isolation and reduced access to community support networks [26]. Indigenous women face particularly severe housing inequities linked to the long-term impacts of colonialism, intergenerational trauma, and displacement [19, 20]. Federal housing and homelessness strategies increasingly emphasize the importance of Indigenous-led, gender-responsive, and culturally safe housing responses tailored to urban Indigenous women’s experiences [27].

The Affected Community and Its Needs

Chez Doris serves women experiencing homelessness, housing insecurity, poverty, violence, social isolation, and health-related vulnerabilities in Montreal/Tiohtià:ke. Although the organization primarily serves women, the experiences of those accessing its services are highly diverse and shaped by intersecting inequalities related to racism, colonization, migration, disability, aging, trauma, and economic marginalization. Many women accessing services are either unhoused, precariously housed, or at immediate risk of homelessness. According to Chez Doris’ 2023-2024 Annual Report, over one-third of women using its services were unhoused [4]. The organization supports women sleeping outdoors, staying temporarily with friends or relatives, cycling through emergency shelters, remaining in unsafe housing situations, or struggling to maintain stable housing because of financial insecurity. More recent organizational data further indicate growing demand for women-specific support services, with over 1,700 women accessing services during 2024-2025 and approximately 40 new women arriving each month seeking assistance [8].

The population served by Chez Doris spans multiple age groups and life circumstances. Among unhoused clients, the largest proportion of women were between the ages of 35 and 59, followed by women aged 18 to 34, although older women were also significantly represented [4]. Older women often face distinct challenges related to chronic illness, fixed incomes, reduced social support networks, and prolonged housing instability. In their review of homelessness and aging in Canada, Grenier et al. (2016) found that older adults experiencing homelessness frequently encounter overlapping health, housing, and income-related vulnerabilities that increase their risk of long-term housing instability [28]. These findings help contextualize the experiences of many older women served by Chez Doris.

Chez Doris also serves women from diverse cultural, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds. Organizational data indicate that clients include White, Black, First Nations, Métis, Inuit, Arab, Asian, and Latin American women, alongside women whose identities were categorized as unknown [4]. While most women accessing services speak English or French, many also speak languages such as Arabic and Spanish [4]. Language barriers can complicate access to healthcare, employment opportunities, housing applications, and social services, particularly for immigrant and newcomer women navigating unfamiliar institutional systems. As a result, women may face additional obstacles when attempting to secure stable housing, employment, or healthcare support.

Indigenous women represent a particularly significant portion of the population served by Chez Doris, with approximately one-quarter of clients identifying as Indigenous [29]. This reflects broader national patterns of Indigenous overrepresentation within homelessness populations across Canada. Thistle’s (2017) Definition of Indigenous Homelessness in Canada emphasizes that Indigenous homelessness extends beyond the absence of physical shelter and is closely connected to the ongoing impacts of settler colonialism, displacement, residential schools, child-welfare systems, systemic racism, and cultural disconnection [20]. Indigenous women accessing Chez Doris may therefore face not only housing insecurity, but also barriers to culturally safe healthcare and social services. In response, the organization has developed Indigenous programming and culturally grounded initiatives intended to strengthen cultural connection and community support [29].

Economic insecurity is another defining characteristic of the community served by Chez Doris. Many women accessing services live on low incomes, rely on social assistance, work in precarious employment, or struggle to meet rising housing and living costs. Single women and women living alone are particularly vulnerable because they often face housing and household expenses without financial support from a partner or family member. Statistics Canada (2026) reports that women continue to earn less on average than men, contributing to ongoing economic vulnerability among low-income women [23]. The organization’s 2024-2025 Annual Report further notes that increasing numbers of women who are technically housed continue to seek support because their income is no longer sufficient to meet basic needs [8].

The neighbourhood surrounding Chez Doris also shapes the experiences of the women it serves. Located in downtown Montreal/Tiohtià:ke, the organization operates within one of the areas most affected by homelessness in the city. According to Centraide of Greater Montreal (2025), 70% of people experiencing homelessness on the Island of Montreal are concentrated in five areas, including the Ville-Marie borough, where Chez Doris is located. At the same time, Quebec’s 2024 point-in-time count (Madoc-Jones, 2025) found that nearly 42% of people experiencing visible homelessness counted in the province were located in Montreal, which highlights the city’s central role in the province’s homelessness crisis. These local conditions, combined with rising housing costs and ongoing gentrification, continue to make it increasingly difficult for many low-income women to obtain and maintain stable housing [31, 35, 36].

Public testimonies shared by Chez Doris help illustrate the diversity and complexity of the experiences of the women it serves. In a story published by the organization, Lorraine described years of homelessness and addiction before gradually rebuilding stability through the support she received at Chez Doris and reconnecting with her family. Her experience reflects the complex and often non-linear pathways that bring women to Chez Doris, while also highlighting the resilience and determination many women demonstrate as they work toward greater stability and well-being [30].

Chez Doris’ Programs and Initiatives Addressing Local Challenges

Chez Doris responds to women’s homelessness through an integrated, trauma-informed, women-centred, and low-barrier approach. Instead of viewing homelessness only as a lack of housing, the organization recognizes that many women also experience barriers related to healthcare, food insecurity, poverty, violence, and social exclusion. Its programs therefore combine immediate support with longer-term services that work together as an integrated model, allowing women to move from crisis intervention to healthcare, housing assistance, financial support, and long-term stability. These initiatives can be grouped into three complementary areas: low-barrier safety and shelter, health and essential needs, and housing, economic independence, and long-term stabilization. During 2023-2024, 1,436 women accessed Chez Doris’ services, including 974 women through the day shelter and 462 through the night shelter [4]. During the same year, the organization recorded 14,618 day shelter visits, 8,056 overnight stays, served more than 36,000 meals, and facilitated 552 healthcare appointments [4]. These figures demonstrate both the reach of the organization’s programs and the growing need for women-centred homelessness services in Montreal.

Low-Barrier Safety and Shelter

One of the main strengths of Chez Doris’ approach is its commitment to reducing the barriers that often prevent women from seeking help. This group of programs focuses on immediate crisis response by providing safe spaces and essential services without appointment or restrictive intake procedures. Through its day shelter, night shelter, and 24/7 frontline services, women experiencing homelessness, housing insecurity, violence, or crisis can access support as soon as they need it.

The day shelter serves as the main entry point for many women by providing meals, snacks, showers, laundry facilities, hygiene products, clothing assistance, internet access, rest areas, psychological support, and referrals to additional services [25]. In 2023-2024, it recorded more than 14,600 visits, which shows the high demand for these services [4]. The night shelter complements this support by providing overnight accommodation, meals, showers, and a safe women-only environment for women experiencing homelessness or unsafe housing situations, with more than 8,000 overnight stays recorded during the same year [4, 32]. Recognizing the increased risks associated with winter homelessness, Chez Doris also resumed its 24/7 frontline services in November 2024, extending continuous access to shelter and support during the coldest months of the year [5]. These programs together address women’s immediate safety needs while also serving as an entry point to the organization’s healthcare, housing, financial, and employment services.

Health and Essential Needs

While the shelter programs respond primarily to immediate safety concerns, Chez Doris also recognizes that stable housing cannot be achieved without addressing women’s health and basic needs. Rather than treating healthcare and food security as separate issues, the organization integrates these services into its broader homelessness response, which allows women to access multiple forms of support in one location and reduces barriers to care.

Through its Health and Social Services Centre, Chez Doris provides low-barrier healthcare that helps women experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity access services that might otherwise be difficult to obtain [16]. The clinic offers primary healthcare, preventive services, psychosocial support, and referrals to specialized care, which makes healthcare more accessible while connecting women with additional community resources [16]. During 2023-2024, more than 550 healthcare appointments were facilitated through the clinic [4], demonstrating the important role these services play in the organization’s overall model of care.

Food security is another essential component of this integrated approach. Women can access daily meals and snacks through the shelters, while those experiencing severe financial hardship may also receive grocery cards and food hampers through the Food Security Program [25]. During 2024-2025, Chez Doris distributed more than 51,000 meals and 12,000 snacks [8]. By combining healthcare and food assistance within the same service model, the organization addresses women’s immediate needs while strengthening their ability to engage with longer-term housing and support services.

Housing, Economic Independence, and Long-Term Stabilization

Whereas the first two groups of programs respond to immediate safety, health, and basic needs, this final group focuses on helping women achieve lasting stability. These initiatives recognize that reducing homelessness requires more than temporary shelter by supporting women in securing permanent housing, strengthening their financial security, and increasing opportunities for independence.

The Housing Program assists women with housing searches, landlord referrals, moving assistance, Indigenous housing support, and partnerships with affordable housing providers [33]. Through the Rent Supplement Program, eligible women can access private or community housing while paying approximately 25% of their annual income toward rent through a partnership with the Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal (OMHM) [33]. Since January 2020, the program has helped 63 women and 31 children obtain more affordable housing [33]. In 2024, Chez Doris also participated in the opening of the Résidence Marcelle et Jean Coutu, a permanent supportive housing initiative offering 26 studio apartments for women experiencing or at risk of homelessness [34]. Together, these initiatives extend the organization’s support beyond emergency shelter by promoting long-term housing stability and reducing the risk of returning to homelessness.

Chez Doris complements its housing initiatives with programs that strengthen women’s financial independence and community connection. The Financial Administration Program provides individualized support with budgeting, bill payments, income management, and financial planning [4]. The In-Kitchen Job Readiness Program builds on this support by offering culinary training, workplace skills, transportation assistance, life-skills workshops, and employment support to help women prepare for the workforce [4]. For Indigenous women, the organization also offers community meals, ribbon-skirt making, beading workshops, and other culturally relevant activities that promote cultural connection and belonging [4, 29]. These programs together recognize that maintaining stable housing depends not only on having a place to live, but also on financial security, employment opportunities, and supportive social and cultural networks.

Overall, Chez Doris’ programs demonstrate a comprehensive response to women’s homelessness by integrating emergency shelter, healthcare, food security, housing assistance, financial support, employment preparation, and community connection into a coordinated model of care. Although the organization reports extensive information on service utilization and program participation, less information is publicly available on longer-term outcomes such as housing retention, employment after program participation, sustained improvements in health and well-being, and long-term program sustainability. Reporting these indicators would provide a more complete picture of the long-term effectiveness and impact of Chez Doris’ integrated service model.

AI Use

For this CKP, I used ChatGPT Deep Research to support initial source discovery, locating program evaluation reports and peer-reviewed literature, and finding demographic and public-health data related to women experiencing homelessness in Montreal/Tiohtià:ke. All sources surfaced by AI tools were independently verified by me before being included in this publication. I wrote all CKP text myself.