Key Research Findings

The Women & Homelessness Research Bulletin presents the findings of a survey of 97 homeless women in Toronto about their health and access to health care. Key findings about homeless women and their health are:

• 84% had at least one serious physical health condition (significantly higher than homeless men)
• 55% have a mental health diagnosis (twice as likely, compared to homeless men)
• 12% had tried to commit suicide in the past year
• 37% had been physically assaulted or beaten up in the past year
• 21% had been sexually assaulted or raped in the past year (10 times more likely,  compared to homeless men)
• 50% were unable to get a shelter bed, at least once in the past year
• 56% do not have a regular family doctor, despite their poor health status
• 47% felt they had been judged unfairly or treated with disrespect by a health care provider at least once the past year

Recommendations

The bulletin makes a number of recommendations to reduce, alleviate and prevent women’s homelessness, including:

To prevent homelessness:

• increase benefit levels for Ontario Works and ODSP so that the shelter portion covers the full cost of shelter in Toronto, rather than having the entire monthly payment consumed by shelter, leaving nothing for food, clothes, sundries and supplies

To reduce women’s homelessness:

• increase the availability of women-only supportive housing that can accommodate women with physical and mental health needs and those needing harm reduction
• increase the availability of affordable and adequate housing in the city

To alleviate the impacts of homelessness on women:

• expand comprehensive multidisciplinary, low-barrier models of health care with easy access for homeless women through adopting practices such as unscheduled walk-in hours and no health card requirements
• increase the number of women-only drug and alcohol detox beds and other residential treatment options for women with addictions.
• increase awareness of and capacity for trauma-informed health service delivery
• expand the number and hours of year-round women-only drop-ins
• improve and enforce shelter standards upgrading current barracks-like conditions of shelters and hostels which re-traumatize women
• provide additional women-only shelter and adapt existing shelters to be more flexible, less institutional, including having more private rooms
• Fund and require drop-ins to:
  • Create language-specific staff positions to serve women are not able to access services in English
  • Develop outreach programs to reach hidden homeless women who are not accessing services, many of whom are racialized and immigrant women.