We have made a positive move towards addressing the unique challenges faced by homeless women. Our council has committed to establishing emergency accommodation tailored specifically for them.
This decision follows a listening exercise I conducted when I was appointed homelessness lead for our administration.
When I took on the role, I made it a priority to engage directly with services and individuals with lived experience.
The message was loud and clear: there is an urgent need for emergency accommodation designed with women in mind. It wasn’t just the specialised services that voiced this need. It was a consensus across the board.
Homelessness is a devastating and dehumanising experience, stripping away comfort, stability, security and privacy. For women, the risks are even more acute.
They face heightened threats of violence and exploitation, particularly from men, in the challenging environment that emergency accommodation presents.
Often, these women have already endured domestic abuse, which only compounds their vulnerability.
During my listening tour, I joined the Women’s Emergency Accommodation Action Group, a coalition of organisations dedicated to supporting homeless women.
Their research and advocacy painted a stark picture of the urgent need for women-specific emergency accommodation. They presented a compelling case to our council’s leadership, outlining the dire consequences of inadequate provisions for women in crisis.
I’m pleased to announce that their argument was heard and acted upon. The council has committed to creating emergency accommodation that prioritises safety and recovery for women experiencing homelessness.
This is not merely a step towards reducing rough sleeping. It’s about ensuring that women have a secure place where they can begin to rebuild their lives without further trauma.
This commitment marks the beginning of a crucial process. There are still details to be worked out but the decision to move forward is significant.
It reflects a deeper understanding of the specific needs of homeless women and a commitment to addressing them.
Ensuring safe, supportive emergency accommodation is essential to helping women escape homelessness and rebuild their lives with dignity and support.
This new initiative is a critical step towards that goal and we will continue to work tirelessly to bring it to fruition.
Councillor Paul Nann is the Brighton and Hove City Council cabinet adviser on homelessness and homeless hub.
Sincere Thanks to Councillor who met with me to discuss my concerns.
When will this crucial decision be implemented?
How will this administration define women?
They will continue to include men because they viscerally object to safeguarding and supporting vulnerable women with dignity.
Our city continues to vote for this.
BHCC rarely has input into the decision-making process for placement, as a large majority of supported accommodations are private ventures contracted by BHCC. However, I feel you’re misrepresenting gender-identity with sexual deviance.
https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2023/07/21/transwoman-moved-from-female-hostel-wing-over-hot-totty-remarks-court-hears/
Do they mean real women?
You mean the old fashioned sort as opposed to the modern sort?
This has to be the vaguest article ever – man listens to women on “listening tour”.
Followed by council commits to “creating emergency accommodation that prioritises safety and recovery for women experiencing homelessness.” In short – this “commitment” is meeting a legal duty the council already has to provide safe emergency accommodation for women.
Not sure getting a pat on the back for recognising that the council is failing to meet its existing legal duties and failing women therefore in the process should be a thing. It’s shocking that emergency accommodation is not safe right now, and shocking that the council is failing dramatically in this regard time and time again.
It’s further alarming that there “are still details to be worked out” about how the “significant” decision about providing women with safe emergency accommodation is actually going to happen. Groups like the women lobbying the council exist because the council fails time and time again to meet its existing housing duties and fails women in the process. This is nothing new, and the vagueness of what’s being worked out so the council stops failing its legal housing duties is bonkers.
I get that this councillor has good intentions – it’s just alarming that a “listening tour” is needed to recognise that the council is abysmally failing a basic legal housing duty it has to provide homeless women with safe emergency accommodation.
This Council fails on most issues really
However the visceral nature of every segment of the population who want services make it difficult to understand what is and is not core or relevant.