Home in a storm – Recommendations

This report gives voice to women who have recently experienced homelessness, and who have encountered various legal, housing and financial problems that compounded their existing difficulties of homelessness or housing crisis.

This project focused on the legal and housing needs of women who had recently experienced homelessness. It involved a review of casework data and case studies from PIAC’s Homeless Persons’ Legal Service (HPLS), as well as in-depth consultations with 23 women who had all experienced homelessness in the past two years. All of the women had experienced multiple legal problems or issues in the previous two years for which they would have benefitted from receiving legal assistance and advice.

This report provides an opportunity for the women themselves to articulate the difficulties they encountered in finding safe, stable accommodation following the physical and emotional trauma of domestic violence. It identifies the strong relationship between women’s experience of domestic violence and homelessness, as well as illustrating the clustering of various legal problems associated with domestic violence, including family law problems involving children and property, housing and tenancy problems, and debt and financial problems.