Since the outbreak of the war in my country, Ukraine, over 1000 days ago, the ongoing threat of shelling and violence is something we have all had to live with every day.
Many of us, myself included, have seen our homes destroyed. I know from my own experience, being forced to leave your home and belongings at such short notice places an unimaginable strain on you, with each move bringing further uncertainty. We have had to rely on friends, families and aid to have a roof over our heads and somewhere safe to shelter.
Not everyone has this support. Recent research from the homelessness charity I lead, Depaul Ukraine, shows how homelessness has risen rapidly since the beginning of the war. Almost a quarter of those now sleeping rough or in emergency shelters in Ukraine are people who have had to flee from their homes.
On top of the war-related risks, our research highlighted that for those sleeping rough, nearly seven in ten people are experiencing violence. As today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, it’s important that we acknowledge the gender dimension to this violence and the specific danger faced by women.
For many women experiencing homelessness, their lives are marked by violence from as early as childhood. Research from Ireland shows 92% of the women participating in the study experienced some form of violence throughout their life and 55% experienced violence as children and during adulthood. Our research shows a quarter of people accessing rough sleeping services are survivors of domestic violence and this rose to half of all the women we spoke to.
Violence can occur before and during periods of rough sleeping. It can be the reason someone leaves an unsafe environment when there is nowhere else to go and when someone is sleeping rough, they lack stability and protection from harm, which can lead to further violence.
These experiences take a serious toll on people’s mental wellbeing making it even harder for them to start the journey of moving into housing and in Ukraine, this is coupled with living with the daily security concerns of the war.
Despite this, the help for those experiencing homelessness, who need it most, is alarmingly limited. For those sleeping rough and in emergency shelters less than 1% of individuals reported receiving support outside of Depaul Ukraine’s services and not a single person said they had received mental health support from another organisation. We know at Depaul Ukraine the needs of women sleeping rough are distinct and this group can be more hidden and difficult to reach, in part because of their vulnerability to violence. They need targeted and specific interventions including refuges, so women fleeing violence have somewhere safe to stay as well as gender informed services targeting women already sleeping rough.
The war in Ukraine has exacerbated many problems and the rise in homelessness and the threat of violence faced every day by those on our streets, is yet another challenge our country faces. But we must do more, we cannot let people fall through the cracks. There urgently needs to be greater collaboration between the government, charities and other organisations to find housing solutions and to begin to look at providing better support for women experiencing homelessness.
Anka Skoryk, Depaul Ukraine CEO
