Women had to be turned away from Anova's shelter space more than 2,500 times last year due to a lack of shelter beds, new numbers released by the organization show.

"What is most surprising to me is that every three and a half hours, we've had to turn a woman away. It speaks volumes to what is going on in our community," said Jessie Rodger, Anova's executive director.

Anova is the province's largest women's shelter, with 67 beds in two locations.

"When the "me too" and "times up" movement started in fall 2017, calls to our crisis line went up, and they have remained steady, they haven't gone down, Rodger said.

"If you say to people, it's okay to talk about your trauma, reach out, ask for help, someone will help you, we need to respond with resources, we need to be able to respond with more counselling hours, more spaces and more beds, so we can respond to those survivors who are brave enough to come forward."

Although Anova staff are being "creative and resourceful" trying to answer the calls for help, it's difficult to keep up with demand for service, Rodger said.

The organization's crisis line received 11,195 calls—an average of 31 per day. That's up from 10,000 the year before, and up from 5,000 the year before that.

A single family court support worker served 383 families.

Two counsellors delivered 903 hours of sexual assault counselling.

75 women had to be put on a wait list for sexual assault services.

The average length of stay in shelter was 49 days

Almost 400 women were supported by one Family Court counsellor

Rodger said the data speaks to the "harsh realities" of gender-based violence in the London area, which she said is affecting record numbers of people.

"Women-identified people are coming to Anova through our crisis line, shelters, and sexual assault centre in droves," said Rodger, adding that staff always provide clients and their children with resources to minimize their risk.

There's also a severe lack of affordable housing in London, so women fleeing violent situations or wanting to leave the shelter have a difficult time finding a place to go.

Demand across the board

Other women's organizations say they're hearing more women reach out for help.

The London Abused Women's Centre supported 8,081 women and girls during their 2018-2019 fiscal year, up from roughly 4,000 in 2016-2017, according to executive director Megan Walker.

At My Sister's Place, a day shelter for women affected by trauma, using substances or who have mental health challenges, there is a steady increase in demand, said Karna Trentman, CMHA's director of community services.

"We've noticed the number of women who sleep in the day beds at My Sister's Place has increased. That means they're awake at night and trying to keep safe, and then sleeping during the day," Trentman said.

Rodger called on Londoners to push for funding from all levels of government.

"It is time to recognize that gender-based violence can no longer be an issue relegated to special interest," she said. "We are calling on our community, including all levels of government, to address this urgent and life-threatening crisis.

"There's a federal election coming up. Ask the candidates who come to your door what they're doing to address gender-based violence."