46 Simon Communities in Ireland The lack of affordable accommodation was also said to place increased pressure on emergency systems of provision and to also sometimes result in people – particularly those with high support needs – remaining in living situations that are ill-equipped to meet their needs: “We have a lady with us ten years, she has a learning disability, and there is no appropriate accommodation for her”. According to some service providers, this matter is a particularly pressing one for older homeless women whose housing options are even more restricted because of their specific situations. “We have some elderly women who are never going to move on probably and, you know, it’s kind of a bit of a problem … because there is no place for them to go like bar a nursing home or something.” Practitioners emphasised that a lack of affordable housing was almost always compounded by other structural issues, including protracted waiting periods for social housing and problems or delays in accessing rent allowance or other social welfare payments (particularly for young people and those who do not satisfy the Habitual Residence Condition): “These structures, the bureaucratic system, it’s just in no way, shape or form taking into account the implications for individuals seeking housing at times ... it’s just hard to understand it”. Other challenges that were perceived to negatively impact the ability of services to provide adequate and effective support to homeless individuals included funding constraints, difficulties with staffing, restricted operational hours and overall capacity constraints. Several service providers also discussed the challenges they typically encounter in relation to ‘linking’ their clients in with other services because of long waiting lists as well as women’s restricted access to tenancy support and specialised mental health and/or drug or alcohol treatment. This, it was suggested, can result in homeless individuals (male and female) ‘falling through the gaps’ and becoming ‘trapped’ in service provision. “I think a huge problem is trying to link in all the services together for the person at the same time. There is a waiting period to enter pre-treatment, there is a waiting period to go for counselling, there is a waiting period to have a psychiatric assessment, there is a waiting period to be assessed, you know? It’s not anyone’s fault per se, but we need to bring them services all in together and all head in the same direction at the same time.” While many of the participating service providers acknowledged that significant progress had been made in recent times in terms of improved communication, structures and inter-agency work across the sector, they also highlighted a need for continued investment in the development of appropriate and effective services if women’s (and men’s) homelessness is to be adequately addressed and ultimately resolved. When asked about the presenting needs of women, specifically, practitioners typically highlighted a wide range of overlapping and complex needs, including those related to mental and/or physical health problems, experiences of gender-based violence and/or abuse, histories of State care, low confidence and self-esteem, substance use problems, learning disabilities and poor coping and general life skills: “There can be such a huge history of all sorts of, you know, emotional, physical abuse and sexual violence”. Several stated that these women frequently found it hard to form trusting relationships or develop meaningful connections with staff members. “Trust is a huge one challenge. If we don’t have confidence and trust, if we can’t instill that into them then we lose immediately. Eventually they will but it takes them a long, long time to try and build up that confidence. To be able to trust someone takes a long time.”
Women, Homelessness and Service Provision
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