Women’s Rough Sleeper Pathway

[RSI 2021-2022 Lot B]

The Women’s Rough Sleeper Pathway consortium is proposing a women specific pathway model composed of key partners: Acorn Progression Project, Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid, SIFA Fireside and Spring Housing. Partners are well known for providing services targeting those experiencing or at risk of rough sleeping and each ran projects under the 2020/2021 Rough Sleeper Initiative women’s funding (Lot B). Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid (BSWA) remain part of the pathway as a key partner providing understanding of domestic abuse and contributing to developing further understanding of how this intersects with women’s experience of rough sleeping. Whilst they form a key partner in the pathway, BSWA will not be seeking funding under the Lot B RSI fund. 


We know that most women do not sleep rough as ‘visibly’ as men and are therefore less likely to be on the streets and/or ‘bedded down’ for count purposes or outreach engagement. The (often prevalent) but narrow conception of rough sleeping as ‘bedded down/present on the streets at night’ means that rough sleeping has, in effect, a ‘male face’. If the notion of ‘rough sleeping’ is widened to incorporate the many forms of ‘hidden homelessness’ and the patterns of women sleeping rough, a different picture emerges.

 

The proposed pathway and associated work seek to engage with women who are present on the street, take a preventative approach by working with women at immediate risk of rough sleeping, and build on the research work by Spring Housing in 2020/21 to further develop our understanding of women’s homelessness and rough sleeping in Birmingham.  To achieve this, the consortium is proposing a model based on the following principles:


  • Implementing a     ‘No Wrong Door’ approach within a non-linear pathway where women have multiple points of entry. In this way individuals will receive the benefit of the specialisms of partners in the wider pathway regardless of initial point of contact, and without being passed between services. 
  • Adopting Trauma Informed Practice in the work of the pathway and prompting this approach with associated external partners; acknowledging the lasting impact of trauma on many of those we work with and adopting a strength-based approach in response to this. 
  • A Harm Reduction approach will be used: where there is a negative dependency or behaviour, we will work with individuals to safely manage addictions, reducing harm to them and others and actively promote their recovery and wellbeing. 
  • Designated women workers to provide a ‘relational constant’ which is beneficial for what can often be a long process of engaging and building up a necessary level of trust with individual rough sleepers.
  • A commitment to the principals and standards of the Spring Housing Charter of Rights and the BVSC Quality Standards to ensure accommodation providers we work with are appropriately vetted.
  • Additional transitional support at key stages of the support pathway to avoid ‘cliff edges’ that could jeopardise the achievements of the individual, and to ensure the accommodation sourced meets expectations. 


The proposed Women’s Rough Sleeper Pathway has been modelled around three main activities: identification and access; accommodation and transitional support; and recovery and resettlement. Each of these activities is described below along with models for services from individual providers. The pathway is seeking part funding for three members staff from the RSI 2021/22 fund: a Women’s Rough Sleeper Navigator (Acorn Progression); a Women’s Rough Sleeper Project Worker (SIFA Fireside); and, a Women’s Rough Sleeper Coordinator (Spring Housing). Match funding has been sourced for the Project Worker and Coordinator to take these positions up to full time.