38 Simon Communities in Ireland Conclusion This chapter has provided a detailed account of women’s approaches to help seeking and the ways in which they negotiated the homeless and domestic violence service sectors. It has also examined women’s interactions with service providers and their perceived service needs. Importantly, a large number of the women had been homeless on multiple occasions and had moved in and out of homeless services over prolonged periods. They typically described (often lengthy) spells spent in emergency hostel accommodation punctuated by exits from these settings that lasted for periods of weeks, months or even one or two years, in a smaller number of cases. The cycle of homelessness that a majority experienced can therefore be characterised as a “complex trajectory of paths that led them into, out of, and back to homeless systems and services” (Mayock et al., 2015: 7). A considerable number of the women had accessed a domestic violence service at some stage and several others were unable to do so because they were actively using substances at the time they fled abusive home situations. Many of the women were very familiar with the homeless service sector and were also knowlegeable about the rules and structures that governed individual service settings. Indeed, their movements were frequently guided by this knowledge and experience. Women were also acutely aware of how they were treated by service providers and, at times, reported negative encounters. These experiences influenced their movements, although many had no choice but to remain in or return to particular service settings over time and at different junctures. Indeed, a large number described a pattern of institutional cycling that invariably had a negative impact on their abilty to exit homelessness and secure housing. The vast majority of women had high and complex needs and many of these needs were interrelated, meaning that “it is difficult for women to progress in one area without also addressing the others” (Hutchinson et al., 2014: 5). Above all else, women expressed a need for housing and living without a home emerged as the single greatest source of stress in their lives.
Women, Homelessness and Service Provision
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