Shocking rate of violence against homeless women

MORE than nine out of every 10 homeless women in Ireland has experienced high levels of violence or abuse, a shocking new report has revealed.
According to the findings, which were the subject of a discussion at a conference hosted by the Dublin Simon community, a vast majority of women (92 per cent) who are homeless have suffered extreme violence or abuse.
One third of them (30 per cent) first experienced homelessness as children.
It also found that women found motherhood difficult and distressing due to their homelessness.
Simon’s

‘Home Truths: Women, Homelessness and Risk’ conference in Dublin was opened by Kevin Humphries, the Minister of State at Department of Social Protection with Special Responsibility for Activation. It heard that vulnerable women are falling through the cracks into homelessness.
The conference was held as part of Simon Week 2014 when the charity said that women’s homelessness was underexplored in Ireland.
It also revealed that the problem can differ significantly from men’s homelessness in terms of the causes, experiences and pathways out of homelessness.
Of the women who participated in the research, 92 per cent experienced some form of violence throughout their life and 55 per cent experienced violence as children and during adulthood. A total of 67 per cent had experienced intimate partner violence with 20 per cent falling victim to violence from more than one partner.
Some 46 per cent had experienced sexual abuse during childhood.
Many of the women experienced household instability and homelessness as children.
Niamh Randall, National Spokesperson for the Simon Communities in Ireland, said:

“Women make up around one third of the adult homeless population in Ireland, yet female homelessness is poorly understood.

“Women who are homeless remain largely

‘hidden’. There are many different reasons why a person becomes homeless – the primary causes relate to poverty, inequality and lack of affordable housing, often coupled with systems failures and individual circumstance.

“What is clear is that in the case of women, there is a gender specific dimension to their experiences with high levels of childhood trauma, violence and sexual violence.

“Our study also highlights the complex nature of women’s homelessness and the overlap between women’s homelessness and other support needs, for example pregnancy, mental health issues, domestic violence, drug use and trauma.

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Ms Randall added that it was vital that appropriate housing, with support, was made available as quickly as possible.