The study also shows that the needs of homeless women differ fundamentally from those of homeless men. Bringing light into the dark, taking a scientifically substantiated look at the situation of homeless women in Ingolstadt and developing specific offers for needs-based assistance in the network – these were the goals of a symposium organized by the KU together with the SkF, the city of Ingolstadt and the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Wohnungsnotfallhilfe München und Oberbayern (Working Group for Emergency Housing Assistance in Munich and Upper Bavaria). The symposium focused on the study conducted under the direction of Professor Dr. Annette Korntheuer of the KU Faculty of Social Work, which responds to a state of research that has scarcely been looked into to date. The initiative for the study, which was funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Families, Employment and Social Issues, came from a round table that aims to promote cooperation between agencies to address the needs of homeless women.
As a basis for this, the two Master's students Veronika Chruszczyk and Eva Queitsch, under the direction of Professor Korntheuer, interviewed experts who look after women in housing emergencies in Ingolstadt at various agencies and the city administration, as well as some of the women who are directly affected. Judit Bauer, managing director of the SkF Ingolstadt, knows from her counseling practice: "Single mothers and single women are often in precarious employment situations with which they cannot cover rising rents and energy costs. Many manage to find accommodation with acquaintances and relatives at first. But they often end up in dependencies, risking sexual exploitation and experiences of violence – for themselves and their children." While professional difficulties are often the trigger for homelessness in men, conflicts in the social environment are often the background for the hardship situation of women. Single mothers in particular are reluctant to seek counseling in cases of acute homelessness for fear that their children will be taken into care if no emergency housing is available. At the same time, the professionals interviewed were often unable to arrange adequate housing.
"Against this background, a priority recommendation for action in our study is to establish the ‘Housing First’ approach in Ingolstadt's homeless assistance system in order to meet the need for housing and shelter for women", emphasizes Professor Korntheuer. This was also necessary, she says, because Ingolstadt's "Franziskanerwasser" emergency shelter, for example, was currently mainly designed for a male target group, according to the interviewees, and did not offer any retreat options for women and children, since minors are generally not housed there. "The Franziskanerwasser is not an option for these women", said an expert on the panel at the event. The concept of ‘Housing First’ pursues the idea that precisely an apartment that is provided unconditionally is a valuable starting point for subsequently taking further measures to stabilize the lives of the affected. However, a prerequisite for this approach is sufficient availability of rental housing.
In addition, the researchers recommend that new services be developed especially for women of all ages and with migration backgrounds, because they are disproportionately likely to be among those affected. Furthermore, the experts interviewed express the urgent need to network the institutions involved in homelessness work in Ingolstadt more closely with each other in order to make needs visible and to pool expertise and resources. But the flow of information to those affected also needs to be improved: "Particularly during interviews conducted with the affected women, it became apparent that they are not aware of most of the support options that Ingolstadt offers", Professor Korntheuer emphasizes. In this context, one interviewee suggested establishing a "House of Women" that not only provides gender-specific emergency housing, but can also act as an initial contact point for counseling and support.
The participants of the symposium at the Ingolstadt School of Management of the KU, ranging from social administration to charitable institutions, took the results of the study as an opportunity to expand on the topics in further workshops. Stephanie Watschöder, expert of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Wohnungsnotfallhilfe München und Oberbayern, explained in her presentation that the results of the first federal statistics on homeless people show that the number of homeless women is 37%, whereas previously it was assumed that women accounted for about 25% of the total.
In emergency housing assistance, there are only a few places that offer facilities specifically for women, and the capacities are far from sufficient. Mixed-gender emergency housing represented an unacceptable hurdle, especially for homeless women affected by violence. The establishment of a counseling café for women, as planned by the SkF, at best with an integrated outreach character, would be a meaningful enrichment in Ingolstadt.
"We are pleased that representatives from local politics – such as Mayor Petra Kleine - were so open to this topic at the event. We are therefore confident that the discussion on specific on-hands assistance for homeless women will also be continued at the political level", summarize the two organizers Professor Annette Korntheuer and Judit Bauer from the SkF.