Image credit: Facebook/Kamloops Elizabeth Fry Society
Safe Housing

Elizabeth Fry Society opens 14 housing units for women and children escaping violence in Kamloops

Aug 3, 2023 | 9:40 AM

KAMLOOPS — Fourteen new safe spaces are open for women and children escaping violence in Kamloops.

In a news release issued Thursday (Aug. 3) morning, the B.C. government announced itself, through BC Housing, and the Kamloops and District Elizabeth Fry Society (E-Fry) will have 14 townhouse-style homes spread across two three-storey buildings to serve as affordable rental housing for women and gender-diverse people. That includes transgender women, Two-Spirit and non-binary people and children.

The Kamloops E-Fry will operate the new homes, with offices on site at the ground floor at one of the buildings.

“We are thankful for the opportunity to work with BC Housing to expand services to include these new units of housing to women and their children fleeing, or at risk of, intimate-partner violence,” Holly-Rose Vesper, Kamloops E-Fry’s director of operations states. “We are the only organization in Kamloops providing subsidized housing to women and children fleeing intimate-partner violence, which is an important step in transitioning into permanent stable and independent living, while maintaining the safety and security of the vulnerable women and their children we serve.”