C H A P T E R 4 Case Studies and Service Provider Perspectives on Women’s Homelessness This chapter presents the case studies of three women who had experienced homelessness and were accessing homeless support services. The women were living in different accommodation types at the time of interview, including an emergency homeless hostel, supported accommodation and private rented accommodation. The case studies document the women’s ‘stories’, with a particular focus on the women’s paths to becoming homeless, their experiences of services since they first accessed homeless service systems and their perspectives on their service needs. Attention then shifts toservice provider perspectives on women’s homelessness. Their experiences of working with homeless women are explored, including the perceived challenge of providing adequate and effective services and interventions to homeless women. Service provider perspectives on the needs of homeless women and current gaps in service provision are also examined. Case Studies: Women Accessing Homeless Support Services CASE STUDY 1: Melissa, age 43 Melissa was an aftercare client living in supported temporary accommodation at the time of interview. She had been living in her accommodation for approximately 2-3 months following a lengthy homeless history that spanned 11 years: “It’s good because I haven’t had my own key and my own door in nearly eleven years so it’s peaceful here”. Melissa described both of her parents as alcoholics and had grown up in a household where she witnessed and experienced domestic violence: “I would have liked a normal family life but I never got it”. She first experienced homelessness as a child when she and her mother presented to a homeless hostel following a violent altercation with her father. “I was in an argument with my da, hitting and boxing me in the middle of town and she mother went to hostel and I went with her; he was after hitting me as well. He couldn’t find us for a week … then he found us.”
Women, Homelessness and Service Provision
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