Joanne Bretherton

A Difficult Mix

This paper explores attempts to enhance social capital, reduce negative area effects and improve life chances in deprived neighbourhoods by promoting social diversity. The paper draws on the results of two recent studies. The first study examined resident perceptions of new, high-density, mixed-tenure housing that was designed to provide socially diverse and cohesive communities. The second study examined the housing allocations policies of UK social landlords, focusing on their attempts to balance their role in housing high-need homeless households with their role in the sustainment of neighbourhood social diversity. After reviewing the results of each study, the paper concludes that the management of perceived, and actual, risks to social cohesion from some poorer households is a central concern in the promotion of socially diverse neighbourhoods.

Women’s Homelessness and Domestic Violence: (In)visible Interactions

In Chapter 6, Mayock et al. examine the relationship between domestic violence and women’s homelessness with a comparative focus on the UK, Ireland and Portugal. It starts by discussing the relevance of the concept of ‘home’ for a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics of domestic violence and homelessness. The intersections of domestic violence and homelessness are then interrogated with specific attention to the complex dynamics surrounding women’s paths ‘out of home’ and their subsequent experiences of homelessness and housing. The focus then shifts to a discussion of service responses to domestic violence and considers how, historically, domestic violence and homelessness have been separated. The consequences of this divide for women are highlighted and more recent policy innovations, particularly in the UK context, are examined. The chapter concludes by highlighting possible directions for future research on the role and impact of domestic violence and its relationship to women’s homelessness.

Long-term and Recurrent Homelessness Among Women

Chapter 9 looks at the growing evidence that women with high and complex support needs are experiencing the most damaging forms of homelessness at higher rates than previously thought. Women with high and complex needs use precarious arrangements, forms of hidden or concealed homelessness, on a sustained and repeated basis. Women with high needs often do not engage with homelessness services unless informal supports, such as ‘sofa surfing’ between friends, relatives and acquaintances, break down. Lower and slower rates of contact with services have meant that this aspect of women’s homelessness has often been neglected by researchers and policymakers.

Women’s Homelessness and Welfare States

Chapter 4 explores the relationships between European welfare systems and women’s experience of homelessness. Previous research argues that welfare systems broadly determine the nature and extent of homelessness. The chapter argues that earlier research is based on limited evidence and has neglected to examine gender. The role that welfare systems play in women’s homelessness is complex. Welfare states can support a woman with children, effectively ‘protecting’ her from homelessness, but they may also remove children from homeless women and deliver highly variable supports to lone women. Welfare systems also reinforce wider patterns of cultural and political bias centred on gender.