Since the autumn of last year, the Connection has been ‘women only’ on a Wednesday. It means that all of the staff on duty are women and everyone else comes into the building through a different entrance.
Last Wednesday, as a number of staff at The Connection have Covid, I was asked to step in and provide a bit of additional staffing presence. As I worked quietly in the basement, women came in to wash clothes, speak to their case worker or discuss treatment options with one of our health partners, have a meal and enjoy some peace and quiet in a safe space.
Mel, came to have a chat with me. She had just moved into a studio flat in Westminster. She was fleeing from her abusive partner and son. Although from Scarborough, she has had spells in Westminster and is in long term recovery from a heroin addiction.
Mel told me that she has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, she hears voices and she listens to music, which helps. Mel comes to The Connection for help when things get really tough. I hope she stays in the flat she’s just moved into for the long term and I am really glad she trusts us enough to come back to us when she needs us.
For a long time, women only made up about 10% of rough sleeping figures (about 10%). However, over the last 10 years we’ve seen a change and now in London, one in five people sleeping rough are women. Through our partnership with Solace Women’s Aid, we formed the Women’s Development Unit and spent time over 2021 creating a strategy for tackling women’s homelessness in London.
What we discovered was that there is a lot of evidence that women are very under-represented in the official statistics. This is because women employ strategies of invisibility, hiding from view and avoiding contact with services because they don’t feel safe. Services such as The Connection have had a habit of treating women as a ‘niche’ specialist group on the side lines and the responsibility of a specialist women’s service.
However we now know this is not the case. Our work with Solace has really helped us to understand more about what we could do and it’s given us a sound basis from which to adapt and improve our services for the people who need us most.
Pam Orchard, CEO of The Connection
