A record 180 women are living in emergency accommodation across Galway and the west, Galway Simon said on the eve of International Women’s Day.
Karen Golden, CEO of Galway Simon Community, said this week that the Housing and Homelessness crisis is impacting on women on an unprecedented level and that this figure represents a 19% increase on last year.
“Homelessness is often associated with men and existing services primarily cater to the needs of homeless men,” she told the Advertiser.
“This leaves many women ‘trapped’ in an emergency response system that inadequately addresses their housing and support requirements.
“There are also women in ‘hidden homelessness’ situations, living temporarily with family, friends or couch surfing. This contributes to undercounting of the true number of women experiencing homelessness,” said Ms Golden.
“For some women we support, the issue they are facing is the lack of affordable housing. When our Prevention Services can help them to either retain the accommodation they have or find alternative housing and avoid the trauma of Emergency Accommodation, they have no further need of our Services.
“For others, there is sadly a strong link between domestic violence or abuse and homelessness among women. We also see that women’s experiences of homelessness are largely influenced by high rates of adverse childhood experiences.
