Women, housing and Transitions out of Homelessness : a report for the The Commonwealth Office of the Status of Women. AHURI Queensland Research Centre

Abstract

This final report for the project titled "Women, housing and transitions out of
homelessness" builds on the previous Stage 2 Report, which was based on a
comprehensive literature review that explored women's homelessness and the
different kinds of services that respond to it.
The project as a whole addressed the following questions:
· What kinds of housing and support services do homeless women utilise?
· How does access to housing and associated support services affect women’s
transitions out of homelessness? And
· How do different forms of housing provision and associated support services
affect women’s transitions out of homelessness?
The Stage 2 Report provided a comprehensive literature review of national and
international experiences in women entering and exiting homelessness. It included
discussion of policies in Canada, the United States, United Kingdom and New
Zealand as well as Australia. A typology was developed to summarise these national
and international patterns. Through this analysis the study developed a model linking
the structural and individual predisposing factors to women entering homelessness
with the kinds of service provision available to them, and then linked both of these to
potential housing provision available at exit points from homelessness.
This final report carries the analysis of the model further, but specifically links exit
pathways from women’s homelessness to innovative practices by service providers.
The analysis is grounded in data provided through four case studies: Othila’s Young
Women’s Housing and Support Services in Brisbane, Cooloola Community Housing
Association in Gympie, Lou’s Place in Sydney and Hanover Welfare Services in
Melbourne.