EVENT: A joint webinar from Homeless Link and the Women’s Housing Forum

Book your tickets here:

https://www.tpas.org.uk/tpas-events/show/463

Date:

Thu 20th Aug 2020, 5:30pm - 7:00pm

Women’s homelessness takes many forms and is often hidden.

Research commissioned by Homeless Link and the Women’s Resource Centre found that the trigger for homelessness for women is often fleeing domestic violence and other forms of abuse, which then results in them living in temporary accommodation, which is not always of a high quality, or staying in a refuge to remain safe from the perpetrator. When forced to sleep rough, women need to find ways to keep themselves safe by hiding on the streets, riding the Night Tube and night buses, or finding other ways to sleep indoors which can sometimes result in abusive situations where sex is demanded as rent by rogue landlords.

In the current climate of the Covid-19 pandemic, women are further disadvantaged, with many of those working insecure jobs being laid off, putting them at risk of homelessness even with the current eviction ban. And with women locked down in homes with violent partners, domestic violence has seen an increase across the globe. Women with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) must also be recognised as part of the group of people facing a “cliff edge” once those rough sleeping who were moved into hotel accommodation through the government’s “Everyone In” initiative, have to move on from those hotels.

In this online event from the Women’s Housing Forum (WHF), we will examine these issues, and hear from a woman with lived experience of homelessness. We will discuss the solutions and the recommendations that are being made to government to address this issue which has been thrown into sharp relief by the Coronavirus outbreak.

  • Chair: Jenny Osbourne, Chief Executive, Tpas

  • Speaker: Caroline Bernard, Head of Policy and Communications, Homeless Link

  • Speaker: Luchia Fitzgerald, member of Women’s Housing Forum

  • Speaker: Denise Fowler, Co Chair of WHF and Chief Executive at Women’s Pioneer Housing

Inajara Gomes