Category: Gender, culture and identity

Gender, culture and identity

People from all backgrounds can find themselves homeless. Gender, gender identity, sexuality, race, faith and culture can play an important role in the different causes, effects and experiences of homelessness.

St Mungo’s respects people for who they are and we aim to move beyond equality to meaningful inclusion. Understanding and valuing the backgrounds, experiences and strengths of our staff and clients can allow us to deliver the best possible services for people who are homeless or at risk.

Organisations and governments working to tackle homelessness have not always understood how people can experience homelessness differently based on their social and cultural identities. We still have a long way to go. We are working to understand how politics, society and services – including our own – can do better.

Keeping us safer: An approach for supporting homeless women experiencing multiple disadvantage

This guidance is part of a ‘Safety by Experience’, a joint project between St Mungo’s, Standing Together Against Domestic Violence and funded by Homeless Link’s Ending Women’s Homelessness Fund. ‘Safety by Experience’ was born out of a clear gap in provision and support for women experiencing homelessness, violence and abuse and other forms of multiple […]

Women at St Mungos – A three year strategy for 2019-2022

St Mungo’s Women’s Strategy is designed to address the ways in which women experience homelessness differently from men, equipping us to achieve equally positive outcomes with our female clients. Our biggest challenge is creating an environment of physical and psychological safety for our female clients. Women face disproportionate risk of harm from people they love […]

Women and rough sleeping: a critical review

Sleeping rough is dangerous for everyone. Women sleeping rough carry the added burden of gender-based violence and abuse before, during, and after their time on the streets. Hiding from harm can mean that women are hidden from help and missing from homelessness services and statistics. To explore how we can understand and end women’s rough […]

Rebuilding Shattered Lives: update November 2015

In November 2014 we launched the Rebuilding Shattered Lives final report. This marked the culmination of 18 months of research and campaigning to get the right help at the right time to women who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. This update briefing explores the impact of the campaign to date, and identifies the […]