A university professor from Stone is helping to shine a light on the issue of women rough sleepers in the UK and across Europe through major research and recommendations to the European Parliament.
Professor Kate Moss has recently presented findings from her major study into the problem – covering the UK, Spain, Hungary and Sweden – to the European Parliament. A number of recommendations were also made to help tackle what Kate calls an “invisible problem”.
The research – with University of Wolverhampton colleague Paramjit Singh – has found that over 70% of women rough sleepers are fleeing domestic violence. They have called for earlier interventions, women-only services and for the European Parliament to ensure that adequate funding for solutions is put in place.
The project initially started in Shrewsbury eight years ago, when they looked at a small sample of women rough sleepers in the town.
[box type=”shadow” ]Kate said: “What started out as a relatively small, localised project was extended to a full body of research covering four European countries. The research identified that homelessness for women is an invisible problem in the current economic climate, the magnitude and seriousness of which is compelling.
“There is a real lack of detailed statistical information specifically regarding women rough sleepers and homelessness compared to that of men. This was something that emerged in the original research carried out in Shrewsbury and helped inform our bid for further funding to extend the project across Europe.
“The results of our findings showed that there is no capacity for counting women rough sleepers and that there were actually more women than anticipated sleeping rough for a variety of reasons. Significantly, it also demonstrated that in the four countries in the study, between 70-100% of women reported they became homeless as a direct result of domestic abuse, sometimes going back years.”[/box]
[box type=”info” ]Kate has written six books and over 60 journal articles. She has carried out research for the European Commission, the Home Office and numerous police forces and local authorities. Over the last four years at the University of Wolverhampton, with her colleague Paramjit Singh, she has secured in excess of 2.6 million Euros of research funding to support research into women who sleep rough as a result of domestic violence and also children rough sleepers[/box]
The findings of the research, which was funded by the European Union DAPHNE project, are documented in a new book by Kate and Paramjit, ‘Women Rough Sleepers in Europe: Homelessness and Victims of Domestic Abuse’ published by Policy Press.
See the Staffordshire Women’s Aid website for help and information on domestic violence. They provide a free and confidential service providing specialist support for victims of domestic or sexual violence/abuse.
