Reducing repeat homelessness for women in the criminal justice system

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The context

Relationship breakdown is the leading cause of men’s homelessness in Scotland. But domestic abuse takes that place for women. 2014 research by Solace Women’s Aid found domestic abuse is closely associated with women’s repeat homelessness, with almost a third of participants having moved at least twice, and over a quarter three or more times. Domestic abuse was an almost universal experience for women facing severe and multiple disadvantage in 2020’s Hard Edges research, yet few had accessed existing specialist domestic abuse services, including refuges.

Hard Edges concluded survivors of domestic abuse who also experience severe and multiple disadvantage, including homelessness, needed more ‘innovative provision’ than standard refuges. Jigsaw Housing First for women in Manchester (initially delivered by Threshold) - widely recognised as the first Housing First project specifically focused on women – had already risen to this challenge.

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The intervention

Threshold Housing First was set up as a two-year pilot in 2015. It aimed to support homeless women involved in offending, into social or private tenancies, with Housing First support. In view of the project’s criminal justice lens, two thirds of initial referrals came from services associated with that sector. Of 33 women supported in the pilot’s first two years, 31 (94%) had experience of domestic abuse. 91% reported mental and physical health issues. 79% were parents.

Threshold workers supported up to six women at a time; some workers had lived experience of using women’s services. Workers used an intensive case management approach, including personalised budgets and daily welfare checks. The service built links with Housing Associations and private landlords locally in order to broker tenancies that met women’s housing choices and needs.

Men using Housing First often experience extreme social isolation, typified by a lack of relationships. In contrast, Threshold found helping women manage existing – albeit often abusive or fractured – relationships, was a vital element of support. That required close partnerships with domestic abuse services and women’s centres, and a focus on safety planning. Recognising women as mothers, supporting them to cope with the loss of, and at times reconnection with, children, was also key.

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The outcome

In 2017, the service was expanded (and funded) to 2020, becoming Jigsaw Housing First. In its first five years, 23 women were housed. The project’s tenancy sustainment rate is 81%, including six planned moves (some linked to domestic abuse). Three women who struggled living on their own were supported to move in with family. Just one tenancy was abandoned. This suggests the service is remarkably effective in reducing repeat homelessness for women facing the most severe forms of disadvantage.

The project also saw a dramatic reduction in offending: 79% of women, once housed, did not reoffend. Of five who did, three were ‘low tariff’ offences. Only one woman returned to prison. Whilst support managing domestically abusive relationships and safety planning did not always succeed first time, women said the project helped them process and move away from harmful relationships, and that they benefited from being linked into specialist services they may not previously have accessed.

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Key insights

• Housing First support for women requires a greater emphasis on women’s key relationships, including addressing domestic abuse and recognising their experiences as mothers
• future Housing First projects should be able to offer appropriately gendered support without requiring small-scale, specialist women’s projects
• with the right housing and support, women can quite rapidly leave criminal behaviour behind; services invested in continuing to define women by their offending past can set progress back

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Find out more…

Ursula Ralph, Housing First Manager, Jigsaw Homes
ursula.ralph@jigsawhomes.org.uk