Still Somebody: An Advocacy Project by Women Experiencing Homelessness in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has a tradition of marginalising home and women’s experiences. Its cult of respectability has long policed women’s lives here, rendering many aspects of them silent and invisible. The widespread expectation that what happens behind closed doors stays behind closed doors keeps fundamental needs of safety, belonging and stability inadequately addressed. 

The marginalisation of home is evident in the current housing crisis in Northern Ireland, especially among women and children. With homelessness usually characterised by the image of the male street sleeper, there is even less recognition of the growing numbers of homeless who don’t fit that picture. 

Experiences of women and children are often very different to those of men, with domestic abuse a common reason precipitating their crisis. Safety fears are a widespread preoccupation as they navigate complicated and under-resourced systems to access frequently insecure temporary accommodation; being a lone female in an all-male hostel without door locks is not unheard of. Recent swingeing cuts to funding for housing, rising homeless deaths, unchallenged far-right propaganda around refugees, and an apparent political apathy towards addressing the problem do not provide grounds for optimism that change will come from the top.

Working with a group of women experiencing homelessness, I led a series of photography workshops that supported them in visually articulating aspects of their experiences. This helped to develop their sense of agency in recording and sharing their own perspectives and stories and contributed to advocacy material for campaigns to raise awareness of homelessness in women. The project set out to demonstrate that home is more valuable and complex than it is presented in both society and culture, to legitimise women’s voices, and change narratives around women’s experiences of homelessness.

The participants talked about the stigma they face from others, the increasing precariousness of housing, their struggles with hopelessness, and the scary situations they’ve had to deal with. They also spoke about realising their own strength and resilience, pursuing their aspirations, and valuing the solidarity of female friendships.

I’m grateful for their generosity with their time and effort, and their kindness and support for each other. Thank you to Cormac McArt from Westcourt Centre whose energy and tireless campaigning for action on homelessness makes it harder to ignore. This project was supported by Ulster University and an AHRC Impact Accelerator Award.

To learn more about the crisis in housing provision in Northern Ireland and the heartbreaking stories of some of the people impacted watch BBC Northern Ireland’s Spotlight programme Nowhere to Call Home https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0023w30  

Click on the images to enlarge.