For women experiencing homelessness, the threat of sexual, verbal and mental abuse is a daily occurrence and when the systems that are designed to support them fail, most are left feeling alone and disenfranchised.
A new report released by Community Justice Initiatives exposes the jarring reality of the impact of gender-based violence among women experiencing homelessness in Waterloo region.
Project Willow is a community initiative led by the YW Kitchener-Waterloo and looks at the experience of gender based violence that women, including trans women, non-binary and two spirited women face in the community.
"We have long known, as a service provider, that gender-based violence is a reality among women experiencing homelessness but we didn't know the extent of this experience because it is often still so hidden,” said Jennifer Gordon, director of advocacy for YW Kitchener-Waterloo and lead researcher.
The survey captured the voices of 61 women who are currently or have recently experienced homelessness and have had experience using local emergency shelters and other basic needs services.
This report paints a grim picture of the amount of abuse these women have experienced with a total of 96 per cent having reported at least one kind of abuse, most commonly verbal.
For 92 per cent of participants violence is a weekly experience, with 44 per cent stating they experience violence on a daily basis.
“To think that experiencing violence daily, from multiple perpetrators over a variety of community settings is a reality for some women is heart wrenching, but also frustrating", said Gordon.
According to the report, 83 percent of participants have stayed in a housing situation that was violent, because “it felt safer than being homeless in our community.”
Over half of the women have experienced physical abuse and nearly 80 per cent have endured abuse either emotionally or mentally.
Kate Crozier is the director of programs for CJI and said the women don’t perceive that they're safe in the streets or within the systems that are available for them.
“They get these messages that they are unwanted, even from shelter staff. This is sweeping them from using shelters,” said Crozier. “If that's what they get from service providers, then we can probably infer that they get the same messages from the community.”
Crozier wants to see these shelters being more than just a place where these women can sleep and get a meal, but receive counselling, trauma support and community building.
“In one year, a homeless woman experiences the amount of violence that most other women experience over the course of a lifetime. It's a daily experience for a lot of these women and they are not receiving the proper attention they deserve” said Crozier.
A common theme with reports like the Willow Project and the 2017 report on unfounded sexual violence cases by the Globe and Mail is the lack of response by law enforcement.
Crozier said only 12.5 per cent of the women reported abuse to police, because they felt disenfranchised and knew that their shot of getting justice was very low.
“Um, yeah, I don’t see police or calling police as good, a lot of times people are intimidated by calling them, because I don’t feel that they’re super helpful when it comes to situations that we’ve been through with them. Personally, I’ve avoided calling them and dealt with it on my own." said one of the participants.
Some of the participants wanted to see alternative options to deal with violence rather than dealing with police support systems.
“They felt like they had just two options, which is to go to the police or just forget what had happened,” said Crozier. “One of the women said there should be some sort of justice that helps people before the police get involved.”
With the information they have collected they hope more informed decisions can be made that create systems of support for women who are experiencing homelessness.
They want to see these systems properly reflect the needs of these women, are informed by trauma practices, embrace non-punitive ways of engaging in justice and welcome creative approaches to social and structural change.
“It’s all in our data, the women we engaged know what they want and need to see changed and have strong recommendations for us as leaders on how to get that change done.”, says Gordon.
An online presentation of the research findings will happen on June 23 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
The presentation is open to the public and those who are interested in becoming more informed on the subject are encouraged to register here.
