Transition Home Survey

Instructions and definitions

General instructions

  1. Please keep a work sheet for your own reference purposes in the event that Statistics Canada contacts you for clarification of information given. Return the completed copy with the pre-printed label no later than (date).

    If your facility has two or more separate residences under the same name or address, please complete a separate questionnaire for each (a photocopy of the blank form can be used or call the contact person listed for a copy to be faxed or mailed to you).

    If you are operating second-stage housing, please complete only one questionnaire for this service; do not complete one questionnaire per second-stage residence. For example, if you are operating more than one second-stage apartment, complete only one survey and provide information on residents of all apartments.

  2. Please avoid leaving spaces blank. Enter "0" where specified or "N/A" if the question is not applicable to your facility.

  3. Should you have any problems completing this survey, please contact Statistics Canada at 1-800-387-0479 or by fax at 1-877-256-2370.

Section 1 — Facility profile as of (date)

Question 1

Check only one. As indicated in the General Instructions above, if your facility has two or more separate residences under the same name or address, please complete a separate survey for each.

Please indicate the type of facility that best defines your purpose, referring to the definitions provided below. For this survey only, one of the primary factors in determining the category under which your facility is classified should be the average length of time of the accommodation. Considering provincial differences in definitions, for the purpose of comparison, the following generic categories have been defined:

  • Transition Home/Shelter: Short or moderate term (1 day to 11 weeks) secure housing for abused women with or without children or youth.

  • Second Stage Housing: Long-term (3 to 12 months) secure housing for abused women with or without children.

  • Safe Home Network: Subsidiary very short term (1 to 3 days) housing for abused women with or without children, in private homes.

  • Satellite: Short (3 to 5 days) secure respite (temporary relief) for abused women with or without children. These shelters are usually linked to a transition home or another agency for administrative purposes.

  • Women's Emergency Shelter: Short-term (1 to 21 days) respite (temporary relief) for abused women with or without their children.

  • Emergency Shelter: Short-term (1 to 3 days) respite (temporary relief) for a wide population range, not exclusively abused women. May provide accommodation for men as well as women. This type of facility may accommodate residents who are not associated with family violence but are without a home due to an emergency situation (e.g., eviction for non-payment of rent). Other than residential (room and board) services, these shelters offer few additional client services.

  • Rural Family Violence Prevention Centres: Alberta only. Short (1 to 10 days) secure respite (temporary relief) for abused women with or without children.

  • Interim Housing: Manitoba only. Subsidized housing for abused women and their children (1 week to 6 months) provided through Manitoba Housing. There are no funding or staffed positions for this type of housing.

  • Family Resource Centre: An Ontario government initiative, which provides services that are identical or similar to transition homes. Must at least provide a residential service.

  • Other: Includes all other residential facilities offering services to abused women with or without children. These services may not be exclusive to abused women. Includes Women's Resource Centres (residential only), mental health shelters.

Question 2

The purpose of this question is to try and establish what is the "normal capacity" of the facility and therefore emergency beds are excluded. Count each bed, child's bed, and crib. Do not count emergency beds (e.g. cots, sofas or sleeping bags) unless funded or licensed.

Question 3

Indicate the main area(s) you serve, not the area in which your clients were residing before coming to your facility.

  • Urban/Suburban areas have minimum population concentrations of 1,000 and a population density of at least 400 people per square kilometre.

  • Rural areas include small towns, villages and other populated places with less than 1,000 population.

  • Reserve - tract of land set aside by the federal government for the use and benefit of a First Nations Band which is governed by the department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

Question 6

  • A non-resident is someone who has never resided at your facility and is receiving services.

  • An ex-resident is someone who has resided at your facility before and is receiving follow-up services.

  • Individual short-term counselling is counselling that takes place will the person is a resident at the facility.

  • Individual long-term counselling is counselling that takes place beyond the person's residency at the facility.

  • Family group counselling is counselling which includes the mother, child(ren) and father or step-parent.

  • Aboriginal children and women include Inuit, Métis, non-status and status Indian.

  • Culturally sensitive services for Aboriginal children and women do not have to be services specifically targeted toward Aboriginal children and women, but can be components of other services offered to children and women. Culturally appropriate services and programs can be defined as program areas that accommodate and recognize diverse needs of Aboriginal women and children. For example, recognition of traditional healing methods, use of spiritual elders and teachers, accessibility to language interpreters who have skills or training in the area of family violence, resource material available such as brochures or books in Aboriginal language(s); recognition and understanding of Aboriginal cultural norms and beliefs.

  • Ethno-cultural and visible minority children and women include people who identify their origin as non-British, non-French or non-Aboriginal.

  • Culturally sensitive services for ethno-cultural and visible minority children and women do not have to be services specifically targeted toward ethno-cultural children and women and visible minority children and women, but can be components of other services offered to children and women. Culturally appropriate services and programs can be defined as program areas that accommodate and recognize diverse needs of ethno-cultural and visible minority women and children. Examples include accessibility to language interpreters who have skills or training in the area of family violence; resource material available such as brochures or books in various languages; counsellors who are familiar with immigration issues and parenting styles in different cultures.

  • Children: For the purpose of this survey, children are defined as being accompanied by a parent or caregiver. In cases where, for example, a 16 year-old female is admitted to the facility as a victim of abuse, she should be counted as a child only if she is accompanied by her mother or caregiver; if she comes to the facility alone she should be counted as an adult female under the group "15 to 19 years".

  • Programs for child witnesses or victims of abuse include play therapy, role playing, children who witness abuse programs, and goal oriented programming, essentially child care that is organized with the intent to teach and support the children.

  • Child protection or family services include child welfare services as well as Children's Aid or other child protection agencies.

  • Partner can include both male and female partners.

  • Outreach programs: examples of outreach work include supplying information, accompaniment to court, meeting women to discuss possibilities/options, and participating in drop-in centres.

  • Help with pet accommodation refers to having space in your facility for accommodating pets or a network of people where the pets can be accommodated. Pets include cats, dogs, hamsters, horses, etc.

Question 8

The list of languages provided is comprised of the most common languages (mother tongue) as indicated by the 2006 Census of Population and additional languages which have been added to meet the needs of the survey respondents.

Section 2 — Resident profile as of noon on (date)

Question 18

Counting as many as apply for each adult woman residing in your facility as of noon (date), please indicate the number of women who came to your facility for each of the reasons listed.

Count all the reasons that apply.

For example, a woman coming to stay in a shelter may be suffering from:

  • physical abuse;
  • financial abuse;
  • threats; and
  • mental health problems.

This woman would be counted once in each of the 4 corresponding categories.

Please ensure that only the women are counted. Do not count the children/youth in this question.

Questions 24 to 26 apply only to residents who were residing in your facility as of noon on (date) and came because of abuse (residents counted in question 19).

Question 24 B

‘Admitted without their children' refers to women who have children but the children have not been admitted into the shelter with their mother. However, whether or not women admitted without their children had custody of those children at the time of admittance may be unknown.

Women who have no children or parenting responsibilities refers to women who do not have any children or women whose children are grown and have moved out of the home.

Section 3 — Departures and turn-aways: midnight to noon on (date)

Questions 27 to 30 apply to departures and turn-aways that occurred between midnight and noon on (date).

Question 27

Departure refers to a woman who is leaving the residence to go elsewhere to live.

Section 4 — Services for non-residents and ex-residents

Question 31

Examples of housing related contacts include:

  • Crisis – needed housing because of abuse
  • Seeking second-stage housing because of abuse
  • Seeking interim housing because of abuse
  • Housing problem (non-abuse)

Examples of other (non-housing) related contacts include:

  • Crisis – needed medical or police help
  • Crisis – needed information
  • General information
  • Agency call for client
  • Emotional support
  • Seeking other residential services
  • Accompaniment to court

Question 32

Outreach work - includes supplying information, accompanying victims to court, meeting with clients to discuss possibilities/options, and participating in drop-in centres.

Section 5 — Annual information

Question 33

Admissions refer to the official acceptance of a resident into the facility with the allocation of a bed, child's bed, crib, bedroom or bedroom unit, or apartment. A woman with three children would count as a total of four admissions. An admission is registered each time a person is formally admitted, even if it is a repeat visit.

Questions 43 and 44

The purpose of these questions is to gather information on the impending need for physical repairs and improvements that facilities will likely face within the next five years.

Section 6 — Revenues and expenditures

Questions 45 and 46

Revenue and expenditure figures can be estimated or audited. Figures should be rounded to the nearest dollar, for example, $526 rather than $526.49 and $527 rather than $526.50.

Section 7 — Issues and challenges

Examples of issues and challenges facing the facility might include:

  • Lack of funding; increased reliance on fundraising
  • Lack of training opportunities for staff
  • Shelter frequently at maximum occupancy

Examples of issues and challenges facing facility residents might include:

  • Lack of affordable and appropriate long-term housing upon departure
  • Lack of/ waiting lists for needed services
  • Need for follow-up services/ transitional support once they have left the shelters
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