With the aid of the Lotus House Women’s Shelter in Miami, Florida, the National Women’s Shelter Network launched its first ever Gaps & Needs Survey into the trends and barriers encountered by women’s homeless shelters and safe haven programs and the women, youth, and children they serve. This report is a result of the responses received to the Survey and over eighteen months of research aimed at shedding light on a profoundly misunderstood population, the adversities confronted by the most vulnerable members of our nation, and the ever-present deficiencies of the profoundly under-resourced shelter system struggling to support them.
By way of background, the comprehensive Gaps & Needs Survey includes 133 questions with a mix of multiple choice and written response questions where participants provided general information on who they serve and how, and their unique perspectives, challenges, needs and feedback on a wide range of topics related to the task of sheltered women, youth, children and families who are amongst the most vulnerable in their communities, large and small. Of the shelter participants, the majority identified as emergency or homeless shelters serving single women – with slightly over half serving children as well. Demographically, the majority of participants reported serving women of minority backgrounds, of which Black or African American represented the largest population served. The latter is parallel to the experience of Lotus House, the largest women’s shelter in the country, where over half the women served identify as Black or African American.
Following a detailed and extensive analysis of the Survey results, the top key takeaways – outlined below – are in alignment with the national objectives set forth by the NWSN and Lotus House, including the:
- Intersection Between Violence and Homelessness
- Lack of Affordable Housing and Homelessness
- Lack of Access to Mental Health Supportive Services and Homelessness
- Lack of Affordable, Extended Hours, Quality Childcare Services and Homelessness
- Lack of Access to Health Care Services and Homelessness
- Unresolved Effects of Trauma and Homelessness
- Need for Enriched Therapeutic Services in Shelters
- Need for Deeper Service Driven Research
- Importance of Shared Best Practices Addressing special Needs of Women, children and families Across the Country
- Need for Increased Funding for Shelter and Holistic Supportive Services
The de-identified information collected from this Survey is being utilized by the NWSN to develop a deeper understanding of the root causes of homelessness among women, children and families and highlight the challenges faced by women’s shelters nationwide. The above-mentioned is not an exhaustive list of reasons or causes of homelessness, but rather the most customarily reported lived experiences, needs and gaps within the shelter system.
As part of our commitment to see first hand women’s shelters across the nation in preparing this Gaps and Needs Report, the NWSN team traveled over 20,000 miles on the road, from North to South and coast to coast, meeting with shelter leaders in the NWSN and beyond, talking with executive directors and program directors, frontline team members and those they shelter to better understand the condition of their shelters, supportive services, challenges and solutions. There were times we departed speechless, shocked by the overwhelming burdens so many faced with so little, and humbled time and again by the warm embrace everywhere we went. We heard the resounding message of hope and prayers for more resources for women, youth, children and families in transition and the shelters struggling to empower them to blossom into who they were meant to be.
We hope this report deepens our collective understanding of the needs of women, youth, children and families who survive by being invisible in this country and the shelters serving as their last and final safety net. It should not go without mention that we encountered extraordinary expertise and innovation across the shelter systems in our country in the face of meager resources, boundless compassion for the suffering of women, children and families they served, and unfailing dedication by staff and volunteers alike. We hope this report paves the way for more resources for women, youth, children and families in transition and the shelters that answer their cries for help, quietly saving and changing lives. They are all unsung heroines. We learned every step of the way. With adequate resources, we can transform shelters into windows of opportunity for women, youth, children and families in transition to heal, learn, grow, thrive and build the foundation for safer, brighter futures.