Our IRIS Service Manager Leanne Harper shares her insights to mark Anti-Slavery Day.
This Anti-slavery day, I would like to draw attention to the barriers that women who experience sexual exploitation face, particularly around safe and suitable accommodation.
Across our Sex work and ASE projects, staff work tirelessly to support women who experience exploitation, lots of these women are exploited for most of their lives in many different forms.
When we engage with this group of women and start to build trust, we often uncover multiple unmet support needs, from having drug or alcohol issues to not having recourse to public funds. Unfortunately, this means, more often than not, that the doors to get into safe accommodation are closed.
This is Emma's Story.
Emma's story shows how unmet needs often presents for women in our services, highlighting the ongoing need for support and safe accommodation options.
“Emma is a sex worker aged over 60, who has over the last 24 months endured a cycle of unmet supported housing needs. The results of this have seen her encounter additional risky behaviours and exposed vulnerabilities.
Emma was residing in social housing and became the victim of cuckooing by drug dealers and male perpetrators. She was sexually exploited and forced to sex work both on and off street. A legal closure order was made as part of a housing complaint, and attempts were made to find Emma suitable accommodation.
Due to her multiple unmet needs, Emma was not accepted in the female only housing provisions. Her lifestyle and drug addictions added to the restrictions of her gaining accommodation. Emma was only able to gain a place in a mixed unsupported hostel, which after several months was evicted from.
For a period, Emma relied on the support of friends and sofa surfed as well as rough slept until, temporary accommodation was secured. Again, the temporary supported accommodation was not suitable and after 3 moves, Emma gained long term tenancy in social housing, through a housing association.
Unfortunately, the long-term housing support she requires is not available and the patterns of behaviours and risk are emerging. It is felt that without the additional intervention the cycle of deprivation and lack of support will continue, leaving Emma enduring a cycle of unmet needs.”
This is an account of a woman we support, however it is not the only case like this, there are several women in our service who find themselves stuck in a similar situation.
Emma’s story highlights, how without the correct support, exploitation is a cycle. We work to build relationships with women and support them as best we can, opening doors for them into the services they need, however the door to safe and supported accommodation is often closed to them, because of their multiple unmet needs that many professionals refer to as "too complex."
In order to exit the cycle of exploitation that women experience, we need to have a multi-agency, one front door approach ensuring all the routes in are open and they have access to safe accommodation, that meets all of their unmet needs.
There needs to be a shift in the way supported accommodation services are funded and commissioned. Women do not get what they need from the services currently on offer, the few that do exist are overly subscribed and impossible to access.
