Housing and Income Clinic

The Housing and Income Clinic assists victims of violence access income assistance and other public support benefits including housing and child care subsidies helping to remove the financial barriers that may prevent women from leaving their violent partners.

The clinic helps clients process applications, provides accompaniment to local assistance offices and serves as a liaison with the Ministry of Housing and Social Development in order to serve the needs of women and children fleeing violence. It also helps them find safe and affordable housing and understand their rights and responsibilities under BC’s Residential Tenancy Act.

Victims can apply for assistance through Surrey Women’s Centre instead of going to a local assistance office. In our risk assessments, we liaise with assistance offices as part of the safety plan to ensure that our applications are processed quickly and victims receive all of the benefits that they are entitled.

To assist women with this process we have created the following information sheets:

We are also an access point for BC Housing’s Housing Registry, the centralized database for housing providers containing current applicant information from women seeking affordable living spaces. The clinic helps victims obtain priority placement which significantly reduces their wait times for subsidized housing.