The Women’s Homelessness Action Group:
The Women’s Homelessness Action Group (WHAG) came together following a workshop held at It Takes a City’s (ITAC’s) foundational summit on homelessness in November 2018.
The WHAG’s focus is on the needs of and provision for homeless women. The WHAG has a range of members, including those currently working in the homelessness sector, academics, students, those with lived experience, local women’s services, the voluntary sector and others who care passionately about changing services for homeless women.
The WHAG has been working to achieve its two main aims:
- To ensure that the needs of homeless women are embedded in current, and future services.
- To ensure that safe and adequate women-only housing, and a ‘Haven‘, are provided for vulnerable homeless women, including therapeutic care and a holistic pathway of support.
To do this, the WHAG has focused on working with and for women who are rough sleeping or vulnerably housed, listening to the voices of lived experience to fully understand women’s needs. Additionally, the WHAG have advocated for the need to embed a trauma-informed approach into service delivery.
To find out more, or get involved in our work please contact: dianaminns@hotmail.com
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Why a Women Only Service?
Women make up the majority of the ‘hidden homeless’ population meaning their needs are overwhelmingly unmet in the majority of homeless services nationally. Women’s needs are also much more complex and vastly different to men’s.
National data shows that 1 in 5 women who have experienced violence become homeless, compared to just 1% of women who have not experienced violence. Being a victim of violence is a traumatic experience, and women can develop a range of support needs in addition to their homelessness.
ITAC and the WHAG have worked with partner organisations on the ‘Women’s Homelessness Census’ which was trialed in Cambridge in autumn 2023. The information gathered highlighted the significant gaps in service provision for women experiencing homelessness and housing precarity in the city. Additionally, rough sleeper counts in Cambridge have identified a high level of homeless women, significantly higher than the national picture.
The Haven:
In 2022, It Takes a City and the WHAG commissioned a report to lay out the context of women’s homelessness and investigate how we could work towards providing a ‘Haven’ for women to use at night-time in Cambridge.
The report demonstrated gaps in provision locally and set out a detailed strategic plan, with a proposal for a night-time space for women who are street homeless, vulnerably housed, or in need of a safe space from their current circumstances. Read the report here.
In 2023, ITAC received funding from Cambridge City Council’s Rough Sleeping Initiative Fund to support the 12-month pilot project.As a result of this and other grant funding, ITAC and the WHAG were thrilled to announce the opening of the Haven in June 2024.
Marginalised women often face the greatest obstacles in accessing support and we hope the Haven will be a space of safety for those women who need it most. This is an essential step towards better understanding the needs of homeless women and how we can continue developing specialist services in the city.
Find out more about the Haven here.
Media Coverage:
BBC Cambridgeshire recently visited the Haven and interviewed Diana and Alice who have been involved in the Haven project. Read the interview here.
In June 2023, ITAC were grateful to receive a small grant from the Evelyn Trust, allowing ITAC to fund a project officer to develop the Haven project. A huge thank you to the Evelyn Trust for their support.
Diana and Annie spoke to Neil Whiteside on Cambridge 105 Radio about the group’s campaign for a Haven in the city and the need for better, trauma informed services for women who are rough sleeping or vulnerably housed. Listen to the interview.
Ella, an inspirational young person and active member of the group, spoke to Caitlin Reilly from Varsity magazine about their experience of escaping an abusive relationship and trying to navigate an often fragmented and confusing system for those facing homelessness. Read the article.
Support Us:
You can find the WHAG on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) @whagcambridge
The WHAG is raising money to support our ongoing work. Find our Just Giving page here.
