Login
Sign UpLoginSign Up
Single women and mothers with children are the two fastest growing groups of people experiencing homelessness in the United States. By our estimate, 1,129,307 women experience homelessness annually–disproportionately impacting persons of color, Black and Latinx. This astounding number is matched and exceeded only by the pre-pandemic estimated 2.5 million children that experience homelessness each year. The pandemic has only exacerbated the levels of violence and homelessness for women and children.
The reason single women and mothers with children the two fastest growing groups of people experiencing homelessness in the United States is due to wide ranging historic and ongoing gender based violence and discrimination and other social inequities which disproportionately impact women, including women of color, women who are pregnant, single mothers with small children, youth (both parenting and unaccompanied), our LGBTQ+ mothers, sisters and daughters, and even our elders. They represent an estimated 34% of the population experiencing homelessness each year in our country.
For centuries, women have been regarded as the “lesser” gender. Prior to the implementation of gender-based protections (i.e. right to vote, right to work, right to own property), the status of women was undermined and fundamentally nonexistent. Nearly 200 years later, despite these breakthroughs, gender inequality continues to permeate. From unequal pay and underrepresentation in politics and policies, to unequal distribution of household labor and gender based violence, women continue to battle with a myriad of obstacles. These social and economic inequities have increased vulnerability and exposure to traumatic experiences, ultimately creating a pipeline to homelessness for women and children. With these structural factors contributing to a 41% increase in women experiencing homelessness, disproportionately impacting all women, it is evident that the fight for gender equality is far from over.
We focus our work on women because of the deep, pervasive inequities faced by women both historically and today in our society, because women’s work and role in society has been historically the least valued of all, because the majority of victims of gender based violence are women and girls.
We focus our work on their children too because we are mothers, the primary caregivers of the over 2.5 Million children who experience homelessness each year in the United States. Most children experiencing homelessness are between the tender age of birth and 6 years old, the most formative years of their lives, a time at which neural development is at its fastest. Homelessness is traumatic for everyone, but especially for children in the loss of family, neighborhood and family support, possessions and security. They are in the tow of beleaguered mothers too often single handedly managing the stressors of under-resourced homeless systems, desperate to feed, care for, find and keep employment, and keep their families intact.
At the intersection of historic racial, ethnic, gender, and social/economic discrimination and disparities, women’s inequities dive deepest. This is where we begin. “We” are the water bearers of the future, bringing forth and nurturing the next generation, the seed and promise of our collective future as a fair and equitable society.
“I would call myself a survivor…and the Lotus House changed me completely, made me a totally different person. This program, it does work, it does help. And the things that they do here as far as helping with trauma, that’s amazing. It opened me up to know that I am the person that God said that I should be, today. ‘Cause back then I was so hurt and traumatized. But today I am the person that I should be, that I always know that I could be, and that I can do anything that’s possible. So this program… it does work.”
“Lotus House taught me patience.”
“I was taken care of, it was a great experience. I had a lot of support, and Lotus House is my family. They’ve become my family, Junior’s family, at a time when I had no one. When I couldn’t pick up a phone and reach out to anyone, Lotus House, the counselors, everyone here, the staff, was my family.”
