Calgary charity Emma House, which provides transitional housing for vulnerable pregnant women, has as of Oct. 1, become a part of Inn From the Cold.

The decision to dissolve the charity and to become a program within Inn From the Cold stemmed from the increased pressures that the non-profit sector has faced, but also to ensure the continuity and expansion of the work that Emma House has provided clients for the past two decades.

The merger was announced on Wednesday by Inn From the Cold CEO Heather Morley, and Emma House Board Chairperson Kerri Beuk, who joined the Inn From the Cold board.

“The discussions began with Emma House late last year, as they were struggling to find sustainable funding. Inn From the Cold is a larger organization, and so by joining together we can create efficiencies,” said Morley.

“We know that shelters in the social services sector, the demand is increasing, but our ability to secure funding and raise donations isn’t necessarily keeping pace, because everybody’s being squeezed. Just like a for-profit, just like corporate would, we can find efficiencies and offer the services in a much more efficient and stronger way.”

As a result, all of the clients, and the staff that work to provide programming for them at Emma House, would be continuing on inside Inn From the Cold as part of a specialized program—and volunteers at Emma House are being asked to continue on as well.

The name too, Emma House, is set to continue to be used.

“It has a legacy in the community, and people know Emma House, So for us, it was important that we honoured that legacy and that it continued so that women who potentially might be accessing service… its still here,” said Morley.

The house was founded over 25 years ago as a program by Calgary Police Service officers and Calgary community members, and for the past quarter century, it has served as the city’s only shelter dedicated to providing housing for expectant mothers.

Merger provides opportunity for growth, and to serve more clients

Beuk said that the decision to proceed with a merger made sense because what was needed by Emma House wasn’t necessarily the staff to provide services to clients, but rather the back-end support to keep the organization running.

“You’re just seeing less and less people able to donate. And for us, our costs to run the charity, even though it’s a small charity, you still need all of the staffing, the supports. What we were finding is not enough money is going to where it needs to go, which is to the residents, to the services, to the programs,” said Beuk.

The challenge was that looking into the future for finances, there was no path possible for sustainable funding without the merger, she said.

The services that Emma House provides were an easy fit with Inn from the Cold given the overlap in what the two organizations have offered, Beuk said.

Morley said that there has been a real financial challenge for Calgarians, from the people needing services to those able to be generous and support non-profits.

“Our shelter, like every shelter in Calgary, has been running at more than full capacity. We have seen a significant increase in the last couple years, as we have this perfect, imperfect storm of housing crisis and affordability crisis. We cannot keep up with demand from community,” she said.

“Families are increasingly on the brink. Rents are unaffordable. Even the availability of affordable housing, particularly for families, is a huge challenge. At Inn From the Cold, we every day are seeing families that have no place to turn.”

With the merger in place, it now means that there is a possibility of not only keeping the services intact but also to grow them in the future, Beuk said.

“As part of the board moving forward, as Inn From the Cold, that’s obviously what we would love to be seeing: how do we continue to provide more beds, more care, more services, and more programming to these vulnerable communities,” she said.

What Morley said would be changing for Emma House, besides the charity being dissolved and two of the board members, including Beuk, joining the Inn From the Cold board, was that more resources would be put towards Emma House operations.

Currently, there are 10 spaces for women at a confidential location in the city—meant to protect the safety and well-being of clients—that provides services for vulnerable pregnant women for up to two years before giving birth and after.

That now compliments the 20 spaces that Inn From the Cold has been able to provide families.

An FAQ on the merger has been provided by Emma House and Inn From the Cold for clients and the public and can be accessed at innfromthecold.org/emmahouse.