People become homeless when the pressure of high rent and low income becomes too much, or when circumstances such as poverty or limited social networks make them vulnerable to shocks, like the loss of a job or bereavement.
Being homeless makes people even more vulnerable to those who seek to exploit others for personal gain, and many homeless people risk becoming victims of human trafficking. Traffickers target vulnerable individuals at soup kitchens or food banks and secure their trust through false stories of success and money, coercing them into forced labour.
Equally, people who have been trafficked from outside Britain risk becoming homeless following the end of their exploitation, as they lack the social networks and financial support they need to secure work and settled housing. Our understanding of the links between homelessness and modern slavery remains limited, and services as they stand are ill-equipped to support people affected by both experiences.
Crisis’ 2018-23 strategy set out a commitment to ending the homelessness of the most vulnerable people in Britain, including homeless people who are excluded from services because of their nationality or high needs. For this reason, in 2019 Crisis embarked on a two-year project, TILI (Train, Identify, Learn, Intelligence), funded by the Tampon Tax Fund.
Project TILI aims to gather data evidence to understand the links between homelessness and modern slavery. This will be used to develop a model for the identification, support, recovery, accommodation and integration of women who have escaped modern slavery and who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Working together with Hestia (London), BAWSO (Wales), Belfast Women's Aid (Northern Ireland) and Shared Lives Plus, we will:
- Develop and deliver training to homelessness charities to identify, protect and support female victims of modern slavery.
- Improve our understanding of homelessness and modern slavery affecting women across England, Wales and Northern Ireland through development of a database.
- Help more women affected by modern slavery and homelessness to get the specialist support that they need.
- Test out new ways of providing safe housing for women who are homeless after surviving modern slavery.
If you are interested to find out more about the project, or would like to lend your support to help deliver an element of the project, please get in touch with the team today on corporatepartnerships@crisis.org.uk