A donation from MCC is a starting point for women in present or past crisis to find hope and affordable housing for themselves and in some cases their children also. 

"The Jubilee Fund is a registered non-profit established in 2000 by a range of community partners," says Darryl Loewen, the Executive Director of MCC Manitoba. "Some are faith-based, but not all were required to be so. MCC Manitoba was a founding member, I'm happy to say."

The fund was established to gather social investments in order to provide collateral to help non-profits with a poverty alleviation mandate. 

"MCC Manitoba has contributed $130,000 to this new pilot project with the Jubilee Fund to guarantee rent for women who are timing out of women's shelters across the province."

There are 10 women's shelters across Manitoba and women in need of refuge can stay for up to a year at most of them. At that time, some women, including their children, are not fully ready to go off on their own. 

"We understand that some of the likely participants in this rent program, some measure of intimate partner violence is likely to be in their stories. We've got a program that seeks to respond and prevent those kinds of situations. We're also interested in affordable housing since we know that housing is one of the markers of economic sustainability in a household."

The money was donated to MCC Manitoba with affordable housing in mind, according to Loewen. 

"This is a chance to extend the safety and hopefully the affordability of housing so that they can establish for themselves a personal rental history."

While this sizeable donation is a great start, Lowen says that there is work to be done.

"I can imagine that this rent guarantee program in its first year will just touch the eligible candidates. But the idea is for this to grow."

For people interested in finding out more about the Jubilee Fund or donating to the project, all the information can be found on their website. 

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