Homelessness is helping to drive demand at Iris Kirby House in St. John’s.

Executive Director, Michelle Greene, says their shelter is the only one that takes children and they’ve seen “unprecedented numbers” this year.

She says homelessness is often the result of trauma in a person’s background, and it’s often difficult to determine whether the need is related to domestic violence or a variety of other interrelated factors.

Greene says people don’t choose to be vulnerable.

Whether they have an experience with poor choices, alcohol or drugs, it’s not a choice they make says Greene, it’s an outcome of a series of life events, often stemming from violence and trauma.