Presentation at Rise's Housing Research Report Launch on November 25, 2025

Rise Women’s Legal Centre recently launched its new housing research report, “Should I Have Just Stayed?” Improving Family Law Remedies for Survivors During BC’s Housing Crisis, which was made possible with the generous support of The Houssain Foundation. Yesterday’s launch event included a one-hour panel discussion with Rise’s staff lawyer and report author, Haley Hrymak, who moderated a conversation with Amy FitzGerald (BC Society of Transition Houses), Alina McKay (UBC Peter A. Allard School of Law), and Kamaljit Lehal (Lehal Law). They discussed how housing challenges affect women and gender-diverse people navigating the legal system in BC.

The discussion also highlighted a few key findings from the report, showing what is working and what needs improvement:

Transition houses, second-stage housing, and culturally safe supports are essential.

Income supports like the Canada Child Benefit and BC Family Benefit help survivors manage financially.

More affordable, long-term housing is needed across BC.

Anti-violence organizations need stable funding to keep providing support to survivors.

“No-pets” rental rules can make it harder for survivors to leave unsafe homes.

Housing rules, like the National Occupancy Standard, need updates to better support families affected by violence.

Read the full report here: https://static1.squarespace.com/stati...

Rise Professional Legal Education

We are happy to share that we have launched our new CPD-accredited training platform for lawyers, called Rise Professional Legal Education (RPLE). If you want to learn more about the issues and findings covered in our housing report, you can register for the newly released The Housing Crisis and Coercive Control training here: https://rise-professional-legal-educa....

Part 2, Navigating BC’s Housing Crisis as a Survivor of Violence, and Part 3, Family Law Remedies and the Housing Crisis, will be available soon.

If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected].