VIEW issue 4 2012:VIEW issue 4 2012 29/04/2012 16:54 Page 6


VIEW, Issue four, 2012


Website: viewdigital.org


Page 6 Offering a welcoming


Image: Donal McCann


Director Sandra Moore of Welcome tells VIEW of the ongoing struggle to tackle homelessness, especially the rise of women using its services


W


been such that it is now running six years later at nearly full capacity. “Last year we had 65 individual women who


e have a project set up for homeless women with multi-complex needs. It was set up six years as a Christmas project for six weeks. The need has


went through that project, some of them we would describe as being ‘recycled’ through the system, said Sandra Moore of the charity Welcome, which deals with homelessness. “We deal with anyone from the age of 18 right up to their 60s. Our oldest service user at present is aged 67. The average age of homelessness across both genders is 31.


ent from than that of men,” said Sandra. “In Belfast, outside of domestic violence projects, and that usually involves women with children, there is only one gender specific project in the city, and that is the Divis project, which houses four women. Sixty- five women went through that project and we are running at full occupancy for most of the time. “The range of issues facing women on the


“The homeless needs of women are very differ-


sons that their other relationships fell apart. Some of the women who we work with have children who they are separated from. A number of them will have come through the care system. There is also a high percentage of them who have been in- volved with the criminal justice system. There are women being held in Hydebank who, if they were male, would not be in prison, because there would be alternatives such as accommodation and bail ad- dresses. “There used to be a perception that when


women came out of prison they reconnected with their families and community, but as the years have gone on we are seeing an awful lot of young women whose connections with their family have broken down prior to them going to jail. “So, when they come out of jail they actually


Daily struggle: Sandra Moore


streets, particularly those who may end up rough sleeping, are huge. They are open to all sorts of ex- ploitation, including sexual, financial and psychologi- cal. We have even known cases where there has been the trafficking of women.


relationships. They see it as a way out of homeless- ness – so the pattern keeps repeating itself. They enter into a relationship, end up in accommoda- tion, it falls apart, and probally for the same rea-


“They are also open to entering inappropriate


have no ties, they don't have accommodation.” Ms Moore added: “Literacy and self-esteem are huge issues. A recent study also found that truancy in one’s early years is an early indicator of possibly being homeless in later years. “We need much more early prevention strate- gies in place to try and prevent homelessness in the next generation. “The women we deal with have very complex is-


sues, including mental health problems. Some of them have traumatic histories that have left them with scars.


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