SINGLE PEOPLE FEEL left behind, motherhood risks being forgotten about – and it can feel like like the government simply doesn’t care.
These were some of the main messages we heard from homeless women and support workers in Dublin city recently as The Journal spent a morning in The Abigail Women’s Centre in Rathmines.
Run by the charity and approved housing body Novas, the centre is nestled just off the suburb’s main road and offers shelter and support to up to 21 women experiencing homelessness.
The age profile of women using the centre ranges from early 20s right through to women in their 70s and 80s.
The reasons that have led the women to the service are varied and often complex. Some face addiction or mental health issues, some have suffered domestic abuse, others are there simply because of a shortage of available housing.
The Journal sat down with three women who have used the womens’ centre to discuss their experiences of homelessness in Ireland.
Each of the women found themselves homeless for different reasons.
Terry (we’re not using real names in this article, at the request of the three women), became homeless two years ago after having trouble at work.
Ada came to Ireland five years ago seeking asylum. After four years living in direct provision she became homeless, and despite currently working as a care assistant in a hospital, has been unable to find suitable and affordable accommodation.
Megan entered homelessness five years ago after leaving the care system. She is now 23 and studying to be a nurse but remains without a stable and secure home.
Each of the women spoke of the strain being homeless has put on their mental health.
Each had a similar message to the government: not enough is being done to support single people through homelessness.
Terry described the Rathmines shelter as “five stars” compared to others she has used.
She told The Journal: “This is a great service because you have space. In other services you would be out from half eight in the morning until 11 o’clock at night.
I spent last winter sitting on the streets. I wasn’t sleeping rough but I may as well have been because I only had the bed for the night and I was back out the next morning.
Terry is 52 and going through menopause, she explained the her mental health has been in a bad place since becoming homeless. In particular, she struggles with the absence of any privacy.
“I don’t think enough is done to support mental health in homeless services. Your mental health diminishes in these situations. Sometimes you don’t even have the energy to get up because you think ‘What am I getting up for?’”
“It’s the little things. I spoke to my mother the other evening and I said at this stage I don’t even want a house or an apartment, I just want a room. I want to be able to go in and have my own small bit of space.
Without a place of your own, said Terry, “you end up with your own baggage and the baggage of about 15 other people on your back depending on your persona. So that affects me.”
In Terry’s view, the government does not “genuinely care” about people in her position.
“They’re just so detached, they have to say they acknowledge it and they will do more to combat it, but they have to actually do something before you believe them.”
When asked what would make her day-to-day life better while using homeless services, Terry pointed to three things: having better access to mental health supports, having the ability to cook her own meals, and having a bit of privacy in the form of a locker for her personal belongings.
This issue around food and privacy is one the staff at the womens’ shelter fully acknowledge.
Michelle Dillon, a service manager at Novas, made the point that this is part of why smaller homeless services, with spaces where people can cook their own food, have their own bedrooms and care for their own environment, are the most successful.
“There’s less people, there’s less conflict. It’s a much more positive environment. They might be a bit more expensive to run but the long term benefits are huge,” Dillon said.
Jenny Doyle, senior residential services manager with Novas, said that this is why shared room occupancy is one of the biggest issues for the organisation.
“It is so difficult being homeless and having to navigate all those difficulties and then having to be witness and see someone else go through different but equally traumatic experiences,” Doyle said.
Dillon added: “You’re sharing a bedroom with someone who has different religious beliefs, different ages, different addictions, different needs. And you’re asking somebody to do something that I wouldn’t do, none of us would want to do.”
Given the capacity issues in homeless services in Ireland at the moment though, shared occupancy rooms are a necessity. Most of the rooms at the Rathmines centre are shared, save for one single-occupancy space.
The contraction of the private rental market also means that services are being squeeze on both ends – demand for homeless services are up due to more people being made homeless, but because there are fewer private properties available to rent, people are forced to remain in homeless services for longer periods.
This creates its own issues.
“The contraction of the private rental market has such a fundamental impact on exit pathways out,” Una Burns, head of advocacy and communications at Novas, said.
Dillon and Doyle both made the point that the shortage of accommodation is demoralising for people and is a factor in people who may suffer from addiction issues taking steps backwards in their recovery.
“If someone is in too long it is such a risk and it has such a negative impact on their well being and their ability to cope,” Doyle said.
“The biggest factor in sustaining recovery around addiction is having a stable home, it’s secure accommodation, that’s the main driver and fundamental principle in maintaining sobriety and recovery,” Burns added.
So what needs to change?
Burns argued that more urgent action is needed from government and that an acceleration of social, affordable and cost rental housing is key.
Obviously homelessness is extremely complex but now it is utterly bound to the lack of housing, there’s so many people who just can’t access it.
“We’re seeing so many people, particularly families where the root of the homelessness is them being given a notice because the landlord is selling, no fault of their own, and they cannot access anything else. That’s a really big issue,” Burns said.
She made the point that families are spending too long in homeless accommodation because there is a shortage of housing for them to move into.
On the other end, Burns pointed out that single people are not being looked after either.
This is something sharply felt by both Ada and Megan.
Ada told The Journal that she does not want to feel like a burden.
“I don’t want to rely on the system. I’ve seen the situation, there are so many homeless people. And for me, I am actually privileged just to have a pillow to put my head on whereas other people are on the streets.”
Ada became emotional while she spoke, but she said she is always hopeful that her situation will improve.
“You have to stay strong, keep your head up.”
When asked if she has a message for the government, it is this: “I wish they could give us the very same privilege, the single people, that they give to the families and the couples”.
This sentiment is shared by Megan, who at 23 has been homeless her entire adult life.
I was in care. When I was 18, I went from the care system into homelessness.
It’s almost impossible to make anywhere feel like home, Meghan said – as her accommodation can be changed at short notice via a call from the placement service.
“You can just settle in and then be uprooted again. You’re surrounded by strangers.
“Sharing a room is tough, but you have to put it into perspective and at least we’re not on the streets.”
Megan spent some time sleeping rough, during which there were days when she was trying to go to work but just found the situation impossible.
She recently sat exams in her nursing course and is awaiting the results. She is hopeful that her situation will improve and that she will go back to work and get a social home in Dublin.
“Being homeless takes an impact not only on your physical health but your mental health because everything’s up in the air, you don’t really know what to expect,” Megan said.
“Just because you are in homeless services it doesn’t mean that you should have people look down on you. There is a lot of stigma around being homeless so that’s tough in its self.”
Burns – the head of advocacy and communications – made the point that for single people, one of the biggest issues in getting out of homeless services is that over 50% of every social housing list in the country is made up of single people looking for one bedroom accommodation.
So our housing stock needs to meet the social housing demand, we absolutely need an acceleration of one bed units.”
Burns added that more needs to be done to convert existing properties that are vacant or derelict into one bedroom units.
“They’re often in town centres and city centres which are ideal locations for low income households, they can get buses places, they can walk places – they mightn’t have access to a car,” she said.
Motherhood
In addition to all of the above, one of the other key things Novas staff wanted to highlight was the impact homelessness has on mothers and their children.
We have women coming back into our services from hospital after giving birth, their children removed, there’s no place for them to be mothers. There’s no place for them to try it or experience it or be supported in it.
Doyle added: “We do see that women who are trying to reunify with their children, they have to jump through hoops that I wouldn’t be able to jump through myself, the standard is quite high. And you can see some of the women who’ve met that target and still not gotten their children back.”
“We’ve seen that some women just can’t do it any more, that they’ve gotten to the breaking point and they actually have stepped back from being mothers and their children go into full time state care. That just keeps that cycle going. So there definitely needs to be more room for motherhood in homeless services.”
Another risk facing women – particularly pregnant women – Doyle said, is that they are forced to chose between a child being removed or going back into an unsafe living environment, including domestic violence situations.
Burns added that many homeless mothers are between a “crazy rock and a hard place” where they can’t access their children because they do not have appropriate housing, but they cannot access appropriate housing unless they have their children.
“We have to give those women an opportunity.”
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