About

Adsum shelters and houses as many as 170 people each day and more than 350 persons in a year. Hundreds more use Adsum services and support without ever staying with us, often related to their basic needs for safe and affordable housing, food, clothing and connection.

Adsum has a long history of working with marginalized individuals and families who experience poverty and homelessness. At Adsum, we know first-hand how poverty, systemic discrimination, gender inequality, racism, disabilities, and trauma intersect and create layered barriers to securing stable housing. Adsum clients face diverse social and personal obstacles that include, but are not limited to; mental illnesses, lack of education, single-parenthood, addictions, and histories of trauma and violence. The folks we work with are managing complex life challenges, while negotiating systems that further contribute to their marginalization, such as criminal justice, community services, child protection, and immigration systems.

Adsum recognizes that the more marginalized an individual is, the more complex their experience of oppression will be, and the more likely they are to experience unstable housing and homelessness. We work from an anti-oppressive, feminist, trauma-informed framework.

Adsum works predominantly with women, but often supports gender-diverse people. Adsum also works with families, most of whom are women-led by single mothers. Women are more likely to be poor than men and are more vulnerable to homelessness and unstable housing. Women and gender-diverse people’s homelessness is directly related to their disproportionate experience of poverty, systemic discrimination, gender inequality, and violence.

We see women and gender-diverse people from racially marginalized communities, as well as the newcomer community, who struggle with language and cultural barriers. Most recently, we have seen an increase in women whose first language is Arabic and have reached out to translation services to have our policies and procedures translated. Adsum also works with many First Nations women, and strives to have cultural and spiritual needs met, such as inviting smudging in our spaces.

In 2008, Adsum instituted our trans-inclusion policy, recognizing that individuals who identify as transgender, non-binary, gender- diverse are especially vulnerable to discrimination in housing, and are vulnerable to violence in men’s shelters. Some families include partners who are men, to whom Adsum provides services.

Vision:

Everyone has a safe and secure home.

Mission:

To lead change in housing through advocacy, supports and services to end homelessness