Violence support | Too little protection for homeless women

A contact point for women in need: a facility run by the Social Service for Catholic Women in Trier. There is a lack of many offers of help for homeless women nationwide. Photo: dpa/Birgit Reichert The Violence Assistance Act is also intended to offer homeless women protection against intimate partner and domestic violence. But comprehensive implementation is still a long time coming, even two years after its introduction. The nationwide women's shelter coordination and Kemenate Frauen Wohnen are therefore calling for the needs of homeless women to be adequately taken into account on the occasion of Homeless Day on October 10th.

Homelessness and violence are closely linked, especially among women: 80 percent of homeless women are affected by violence - and the trend is rising. They are also more likely to find themselves in dependent relationships with men, for example if they move in with a man out of necessity. But staying in a women's shelter during an acute crisis situation can also increase the risk of becoming homeless afterwards.

Kemenate Frauen Wohnen explains in a statement that women's specific life situations are often characterized by several problems at the same time. The association is aimed specifically at homeless women. “For homeless women in particular, there is a lack of suitable and reliable access to appropriate violence protection structures,” says Davina Kronshage from Kemenate Frauen Wohnen. »So without the right support, they often remain in precarious living situations. Like any other woman affected by violence, they need a place where they can find protection and peace.

In practice, protection fails, for example, because shelters cannot accommodate women with drug addictions or because they cannot find affordable housing after a stay in the women's shelter. Homelessness among women often remains invisible: they sleep on the sofas of friends or stay as hidden as possible in public spaces for fear of attacks. As a result, their distress is often recognized later than that of homeless men. This makes it difficult to assess their needs and develop suitable offers of help.

Kemenate Women's Housing and the Women's Shelter Coordination are calling on the federal government to take shelter places for homeless women into account when implementing the Violence Assistance Act. The associations had already pointed out this need a year ago.

However, the law does not provide for any immediate improvement in care. Only from 2032 will the Violence Assistance Act guarantee a legal right to protection in women's shelters and advice for women affected by violence. Until then, the states should determine the needs and push ahead with the expansion of a violence support system with financial support from the federal government amounting to 2.6 million euros.

Until then, things will continue as before: the existing facilities are often overloaded and can only accommodate a portion of those seeking protection. At the same time, funding is being cut elsewhere. This affected, for example, an intersectional women's shelter coordination project that was financed through the “Living Democracy!” program. A model project in Leipzig, which was intended to enable uncomplicated immediate admission, was also not continued after the end of the funding period - even though such short-term help is needed before the legal entitlements take effect.

The federal government initially appears to want to wait until the claim takes effect. In response to a small question from the left-wing faction in the Bundestag about access to protection options for homeless women, she pointed out that vulnerable groups were taken into account in the law. Now we want to wait for the results of the needs assessment.

On January 1st, the so-called state implementation laws for the Violence Assistance Act are scheduled to come into force in all federal states and the first federal funds will flow. However, reliable financing should not take place until 2030 at the earliest. Only then will it become clear to what extent the concerns of homeless women are taken into account when implementing the law.

Other media have corporations or billionaires behind them. We have the nd.Genossenschaft and readers like you. That makes us independent and that’s exactly how we want to remain. But it also means: without you the calculation won't work. We need 300,000 euros by the end of the year.

You can donate directly here, one-time or regularly, so that nd stays.