A new temporary Vancouver shelter offering street-based sex workers a safe, warm place to sleep 24 hours a day, seven days a week will soon be opening in the Downtown Eastside.
"There are so many women who have been using the WISH drop-in as a de facto shelter," explains Beyene. "Women would often sleep in the drop-in, but it means sleeping in armchairs, which I mean we can't really, really rest and we can't really get comfortable when your neck is contorted to sleep in those chairs.
“A shelter exclusively for sex workers has been a need for quite some time, but COVID has now deeply exacerbated the pre-existing crises of poverty, homelessness, and a poisoned drug supply. A temporary, emergency shelter like this is absolutely critical—now more than ever.”