“Despite the profoundly divergent impacts of COVID-19 globally, it appears that diverse policy makers, scholars, and community leaders can agree on one thing — the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing inequities.” So begins a discussion of the impacts of COVID on girls who experience homelessness in an article published in Girlhood Studies.
Before COVID, extensive research had established that young people and girls1 in particular have unique experiences of homelessness. The authors of the article identify three structural factors that contribute to this experience for young women: high levels of poverty, disproportionate responsibility for child care and high levels of violence.
The authors discuss how the inequalities that have been highlighted through COVID are likely to have impacted girls who experience homelessness. They also point out that so far, these impacts haven’t been a focus for research or programming.
For example, the Canadian government initiated the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), a new income support program, to compensate workers who were laid off as part of emergency measures to control the spread of the virus. CERB did not extend to include everyone who received social assistance (welfare or disability benefits). Social assistance levels are far below the CERB assistance.
Social assistance recipients include a significant number of young women with children. The pandemic also meant that these young women would have more difficulty accessing support programs (such as food banks, libraries and meal programs), as these were also shuttered to prevent the spread of COVID.
The authors highlight the need to understand how girls experiencing homelessness have been affected by COVID. They also identify a need for information about interventions that have worked effectively during COVID for this group. The article can be accessed by subscribers and non-subscribers through Making The Shift: Exploring Isolation and the Realities of Women Transitioning to Housing
As possible examples of effective interventions, here’s a report from British Columbia about four projects to improve the effectiveness of services assisting women experiencing violence. The projects began in 2018 continued through to 2021.
One of the projects successfully increased the number of housing allowances that are provided to help women to pay for housing where they can live safely. Another made it easier for women and children who were staying at domestic violence shelters to access homes in a housing co-op. You can read a report about this project at the Homeless Hub: Getting Home Project: Overcoming barriers to housing after violence
