Women, Homelessness and Service Provision 43 She was also assigned a key worker and an occupational therapist, both of whom provided her with significant emotional support, personal encouragement and practical assistance with issues such as budgeting, living skills and preparation for independent living. “I always had a key worker and they can’t do enough for you, whether it is a budget plan or, do you know, help you with your shopping. You are learning all these skills and you don’t even realise you kind of are. I learned a lot like there and it has given me confidence as well … I wouldn’t have even filled out a form like; I would have thought that stuff was beyond me.” When questioned about her perceived needs, Caitlyn emphasised the challenges she faced when trying to source and secure private rented housing. She cited discrimination against individuals in receipt of rent allowance, the challenge of finding suitable properties in line with current rent supplement caps and a competitive rental market as acting as significant barriers to her securing housing: “finding a place can be a nightmare”. She also noted the importance of finding affordable housing for individuals exiting homeless services as they may struggle to live independently and maintain rental payments which, in turn, can result in returns to homelessness: “If there was more appropriate housing and stuff like that, it would be brilliant because if you are always chasing your tail trying to get the rent paid and you are not left with much, you can become very stressed and end up back in services”. Caitlyn also emphasised the value of the assistance she received from outreach and housing support services in relation to sourcing and maintaining independent housing following her departure from supported accommodation. “When I left the high support house, it was a very daunting thing. I think I even held out a few extra months avoiding it, a fear like. It can be very overwhelming for someone who has never done it before, or who has never lived on their own, or maybe who thought they couldn’t manage it. But I was linked in with the outreach department so I still had a key worker and someone to come and help me to find a suitable place like and go and do viewings and stuff like that. Just linking in and seeing where I was at, and what kind of help I needed and were there any areas I was struggling with and just general chats and going for coffee and stuff like that.” Substance use was also a key feature of Caitlyn’s account. She highlighted the importance of intensive, ongoing support in addressing her substance use problems as well as the need for access to substance-free environments for those who are trying to remain abstinent: “It’s hard to stay away from drugs when you’re around people that are using … you need to get away from that like”. She also emphasised the need for reduced waiting times and prompt responses from services targeting active substance users in order to maximise the aim of providing effective support to clients. In the following excerpt she explains that an early “window of opportunity” for intervention is frequently missed because of delays in individuals accessing treatment services. “For addicts, there is a window of opportunity where they are open to it treatment because I think there was a bit of a lapse where I had to ring them treatment service every day for a week or something like that, still they wanted to know if you were serious. I stopped ringing after two days.”
Women, Homelessness and Service Provision
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