Peel's housing and homelessness committee would like the region to commit to funding eight emergency shelter beds for single women.

There are currently no regionally owned emergency shelters that are exclusively for women in the region. Peel's Cawthra Road Shelter provides services for women without children, but also houses men.

Peel staff will ask regional council for $300,000 to create the new beds at Ellen's House, a residential facility for women in Brampton.

Operated by the Elizabeth Fry Society of Peel, on-site shelter services would be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Ellen's House serves women transitioning out of the correctional system.

A Human Services report noted the absence of female-only emergency shelters represents a gap in homelessness services in Peel.

"Some women may remain in, or enter into, unsafe or unhealthy arrangements," the report reads. "Homeless women are constantly at risk for physical and sexual assault."

Between July 2018 and June 2019, 30 per cent of people who accessed Peel shelters were women, and single women accounted for 50 per cent of shelter visits at Cawthra Road.

There are three provincially operated emergency shelters for women experiencing violence in Peel.

According to human services, funding for the beds would be reallocated from the previous Peel Renovates Homeowner's Renovation Assistance Program.