More than 40 women who have taken over Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Women's Shelter say they're staying until it gets funding needed to be become a 24-hour shelter.

There is no shelter in Vancouver exclusively for women.

Elkina Johnson, who has been homeless for a month, said the city's regular shelters are too dangerous for her to sleep in.

"You just don't know who's who," she told CBC News on Monday.
 
The Downtown Eastside drop-in centre only allows the women to remain until 5 p.m., when it closes its doors for the night.

Staff back protesters

The centre's administrator, Cynthia Low, says the staff supports the occupation, because they've had  no success getting money from the city.

"We've been trying for the past six months to talk to senior management to talk to different funding managers about the situation. And of course everyone says, 'Yeah, we know it's bad, but there's just no money to be had.' "

Low said it would cost about $500,000 a year to operate the shelter 24 hours a day.

Johnson says she's reassured that she'll have a safe place to stay for the duration of the occupation.

"For myself, if it hadn't been for this being open tonight, I wouldn't have had nowhere to go."