Women’s Homelessness Statement – Autumn 2022

The Women’s Treatment Working Group are a national collective of drug and alcohol treatment providers.

We are working together to improve to ensure that women receive effective and appropriate community and residential drug and alcohol treatment services.

We call upon local authorities, commissioners, and policymakers to ensure that women who are struggling with substance use and presenting to services as 'homeless' are given the opportunity to access safe and appropriate accommodation.

Across our networks, we are working with women who experience numerous vulnerabilities, such as complex trauma, substance misuse issues, sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, and sexual violence.

We find the specific framing of ‘women’s homelessness’ to be unhelpful and believe that homelessness is better understood as an outcome from one of more of these vulnerabilities.

When we focus upon a woman’s unmet need through the lens of homelessness, we risk underplaying the significance of these other important contributory factors.

Many vulnerable women are falling through the cracks when it comes to accessing safe refuge accommodation. For far too long women have been described as ‘complex’ and ‘homeless’ when the reality is that women are often experiencing serious levels of abuse and trauma.

The correct terminology would be victim/survivor, who requires safe refuge, not a general homelessness response. They require safe refuge accommodation that reflects their experiences.

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