Safe Space London 'disappointed' city won't extend funding for beds for sex workers

Representatives with Safe Space London are expressing disappointment with city council's decision to not give the agency that supports sex workers and women in crisis additional funding to run emergency overnight beds until the end of July. 

In a tied 7-7 vote at Tuesday's meeting, councillors voted against giving Safe Space $138,000 in funding to keep its temporary day and overnight drop in space operational from June 1 to July 31, two months longer than its current finances allow.

"What we're losing is the ability to provide emergency overnight beds for women in the city," said Cortney Golkar-Dakin, vice chair at Safe Space. "It's really heartbreaking and we're going to see the impact of this loss going into the winter months for sure."

Council also shot down a motion that would have allowed the agency to present their funding proposal at a committee meeting on May 28.

Instead of topping up funding for organizations through the winter response, the city wants them to develop a year-round plan for supporting vulnerable individuals, said deputy mayor Shawn Lewis.

"I'm actually not moving forward with any more extensions and temporaries. What I want to see moving forward is a year-round plan so that we're not dealing with funding requests every two months coming before us," said Lewis.

"Not every service is closing down. The winter response is scheduled to end at the end of this month, and that is for me where the line is drawn."

Safe Space is located in London's Old East Village (OEV) and provides basic needs supports, which Golkar-Dakin said will continue through its other funding streams, minus the overnight beds that required city money. Services that will continue include showers, laundry, beds, clothing and systems navigation for those engaged in sex work at the street level, and women-identifying, as well as gender non-conforming and trans individuals in crisis.

Last week, Safe Space's executive team told CBC Radio's London Morning the agency has been "hugely successful so far," and all 15 of its beds are often full. 

Golkar-Dakin agrees with some members of council that the current funding model is problematic. She explained that it forces organizations to continuously seek funding, and risks them losing highly trained staff members because of precarious employment. 

"Homelessness is not a seasonal issue. Emergency shelter services are needed on an ongoing basis which really demands a consistent and reliable funding structure," she said. 

Temporary funding, temporary response

Councillors who were in favour of hearing from Safe Space about its funding challenges said it's unfair to take away the agency's opportunity to advocate for its needs, when organizations like the Ark Aid Mission were given a chance to explain their proposal to council.

"It would be a fundamental problem of just basic justice and fairness not to at least hear them. What's on the floor right now is giving them a chance and making a presentation to us," said Coun. Sam Trosow. 

Lewis, however, argued the matter is not an issue of fairness, pointing to the fact that the winter response program was already extended from March 31 to the end of May.

"In the time from the end March till now, we only had one agency [Ark Aid Mission] that submitted a communication and said 'Hey if you give us more runway, we've got an idea for you about a year-round response'. Only one agency took that initiative," he said.  

Coun. Susan Stevenson, who represents the ward that includes OEV, said funding for Safe Space was a temporary measure for the winter, and extending it would mean an over-saturation of social agencies in her ward.

"It was temporary funding, it was a temporary response. I'm asking as the ward councillor that the commitment to it being temporary be honoured and that we allow this agency to find another location and another funding source," said Stevenson, who has come under fire from Safe Space and other social agencies for her social media posts.

Golkar-Dakin said Safe Space may request additional funding from the city at a later time.