Homelessness is more than ‘houseless-ness' and can be defined in three ways: chronically homeless; episodically homeless; and situationally homeless.

• Chronically homeless women often have characteristics that hinder their ability to find and maintain housing. Their lives often revolve around daily survival.
• Episodically homeless women also face issues that inhibit their ability to gain and maintain independent living. They are often highly motivated to find permanent housing but are typically unprepared for independent living.
• Situationally homeless women lack shelter because of acute crisis and are usually homeless for the first time. Once these women receive some period of support they are typically quick to establish independent living.

Women and their children who are homeless and experiencing family violence may be living on the streets without shelter or in substandard accommodation such as rooming houses or hotel accommodation. Women and their children who are homeless are more vulnerable to experiencing a range of forms of violence including family violence.

Women-headed households make up over 70% of the world’s homeless; studies of homeless women reveal high lifetime rates of childhood physical and sexual abuse as well as assaults by male partners.  The SAAP National Data Collection Agency 2003-4 Report reveals that family violence was the primary reason people presented to SAAP funded services for that period. The national total was 20% of all support periods and Victoria recorded a slightly higher figure of 22%.

Pre-existing poverty, unemployment, the low affordability of housing (especially in the private rental market) and a woman’s declining social and economic status all contribute to generating homelessness. Women who are insecurely housed, such as women in temporary family violence crisis accommodation, are prone to increased stress as a result of their concern over their own and their children’s safety, lack of social support and long term security. Homeless women are more likely to have a mental illness and may also have a concurrent diagnosis of substance abuse and/or personality disorder. Homeless women also often have difficulty accessing health, legal and community services and support because they are not readily contactable.

Societal stereotypes and judgmental attitudes to issues faced by homeless women, in addition to the lack of affordable housing, compound women’s homelessness. These factors present challenges to services attempting to house and support women, so the risk of remaining homelessness remains high.

Women who are housed and are experiencing family violence are considered homeless for the purposes of access criteria for services because their accommodation is unsafe and potentially unsustainable.

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URL: http://www.dvvic.org.au/homeless.html
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Web Page Last Updated: 5 February 2008
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