This session was delivered as a webinar via Teams on Tuesday 29 April 2025
This session was part of our SMD Learning Series.
The webinar looked at hidden homelessness amongst women and what this means.
We heard from the following organisations:
- An introduction from the Strategic Commissioning Manager for Vulnerable Adults within Sheffield Council / Programme Manager for Changing Futures Sheffield.
- Solace Women’s Aid, who worked collaboratively with other partners to deliver a national census to help understand the under representation of women experiencing homelessness. They shared insights from previous data collected, what these findings showed and the recommendations that were put forward.
- Framework, one of the partner organisations working on the census, shared the local findings in Sheffield, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
- Lastly, Target Housing, who run the Growth project in Sheffield which works with women who have experienced child removal, gave a presentation about their service. The project is funded by the Big Lottery Community Fund for 18 months having been identified as a missing area of support. We looked at how the project has impacted on women’s lives and why gender specific and trauma informed provision is crucial in supporting this cohort.
Presenters:
- Justine Adams is a Strategic Commissioning Manager for Vulnerable Adults within Sheffield City Council and the Programme Manager for Changing Futures, a national programme funded by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and The National Lottery Community Fund. She has over 9 years experience working in the sector, including commissioning teams and leading in a domestic abuse service. She is a Training Associate through Safelives and delivers domestic abuse training nationally to first responders in the police. She is passionate about violence against women and girls agendas and women's experiences of multiple disadvantage.
- Eleanor Greenhalgh is Women's Rough Sleeper Policy Manager with Solace Women's Aid.
- Aimee Lowe is a Service Manager of services who work with individuals who find themselves sleeping rough across Sheffield, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire. She works for Framework, a homeless charity who deliver accommodation and over 70 different services across the East Midlands and South Yorkshire. She has over 15 years’ experience of working within the Charity Sector around homelessness, mental health and hospital support services. She has an interest in how we can work with women differently within the sector and provides internal training on domestic abuse and has led on delivering the Women's Homeless Census in Sheffield for the last 2 years, as well as setting up a bespoke meeting to discuss our most vulnerable women in Sheffield.
- Linsay Hurst has been working in the supported housing sector for over a decade. She began her journey as an apprentice housing support worker in a homeless hostel and, needless to say, this job changed her life. Linsay started her career with Target Housing in 2012 as a support worker in Doncaster, working with homeless individuals who had been in touch with the Criminal Justice System. Working with individuals who have experienced trauma, substance misuse, domestic abuse, mental health issues and homelessness face a huge stigma in society and as a true believer in equality she fights everyday to ensure everyone has not only a roof over their head but the support they need to live independently. After several years of working directly with clients she moved to a more strategic role, and is currently Head of Development and continues to fight for equality in services.
Materials available to download:
Presentation slides (File type: pdf. Size: 4.15MB)
A recording of the live webinar is available to watch via YouTube. Length: 1 hour 28 minutes.
Watch the video now (click to launch the video in YouTube)