34 Simon Communities in Ireland “My own house, that’s priority over everything else like … I am afraid that something will go wrong or like, if I wait ten years for a council house and I am on the streets and my child is in foster care because I don’t have enough money to keep us going and I can’t keep on paying deposit after deposit because it’s €750 a go and some landlords ask for more than €750. It depends.” (Dianne, 22) Practically all of the women were living with financial pressures and stress. No woman was employed at the time of interview and a majority were therefore dependent on social welfare payments. A number of others were ineligible for welfare support because they did not satisfy Habitual Residency Condition (HRC) and/or had no immigration status. These women were particularly vulnerable and struggled to secure basic needs on a daily basis. Five of the women relied on emergency payments from a Community Welfare Officer and two had no income whatsoever. Those who did not satisfy residency requirements were also unable to access education or training schemes and had no viable route to labour market participation. A small number of these women had received support from a charity to engage in education or training. “So at least to educate myself, I am getting a great help from charity. They are helping me out with all the funds and whatever. They completely pay for it. Not every morning, three days a week and it’s for like I think ten weeks course. So all the time they are encouraging me to do something to educate myself in my free time so I really appreciate them for helping me.” (Bina, 32). Even those women who were eligible for social welfare payments frequently identified a need for practical help and assistance in accessing these entitlements. A considerable number faced barriers and challenges and while these varied depending on their individual circumstances, payment delays were invariably a source of worry and upset: “Once I sort out welfare payment I am hoping to get jobs to not have this problem with payments because it’s just … unbelievable sometimes” (Cecylia, 27). As documented earlier, women frequently found themselves navigating the homeless service system for prolonged periods and, along this ‘journey’, most had encountered services that targeted both men and women. A large number felt strongly that women should have the option of accessing either a female-only or mixed service and a considerable number of others expressed a preference for women-only services: “There is not enough women-only services that there should be in my opinion” (Isobel, 21). Younger women (i.e. aged 18-25 years) and pregnant women were particularly vulnerable in the context of living in mixed-gender services, as were those who had experienced gender-based violence or had (re)entered homeless services at the point of discharge from institutional settings (such as State care, residential treatment facilities, hospitals and prison). Georgia – who was raped when she was 15 years old – recalled her fear at the point when she had no option but to stay in accommodation where she had to share living spaces with men. “I was afraid, like … Because I’m in here, I didn’t like that, like I won’t tell you a lie, I don’t like sharing places with men.”
Women, Homelessness and Service Provision
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