Jane, who wishes to remain anonymous, was married for more than 20 years when she left her abusive husband and, by consequence, their shared house.
It was a big family home, and much of their lives happened within walking distance. Jane did not drive, and, through years of coercive control, she grew more distant from her friends and family. She gave up most of her paid work to raise their children. It was when she felt their lives were in immediate danger that she was forced to leave.
“I got a protection order and hoped that, when he realised that we couldn’t deal with the level of violence in the house, he would address it,” she says. “My words to him, on the day that we left, were that ‘it’s only temporary’.”
Jane told her husband he needed help and the family would support him. The house was in his name, and the onus was on her to both convince authorities of the abuse she had suffered and find a new place to live.
Over the next four years, Jane and her six children moved five times to five different places. They were uprooted from schools and their community. The older siblings had to spend time in the care of other family members, as they were above the age threshold for emergency accommodation at a women’s refuge.
“I remember feeling shame that I didn’t manage to keep things together within my marriage, and that we were reduced to this. I worried about the children. They were used to having a very large home. They hadn’t really been anywhere else.”
Now, with her husband serving a prison sentence, Jane and her children are back in their original house, but the situation remains far from comfortable. In a couple of years, per an agreement, the property will be sold, and she will receive 50 per cent of the sale. It is hard to envisage that being enough to accommodate her and however many of her children remain at home.
Jane’s story supports an argument made by several speakers on Tuesday at the National Women’s Council’s (NWC) conference on housing precarity, homelessness and violence against women and girls. In cases of domestic violence, they argue, the perpetrator should have to surrender their accommodation rather than the victim.
Between 2022 and 2024, there was a 45 per cent rise in the number of homeless women in Ireland, according to Focus Ireland figures. Last year, Women’s Aid recorded a record high number of disclosures of domestic abuse against women and children.
Orla O’Connor, director of NWC, argues gender-based violence is “enabled by a broken housing market”. She was one of many at the conference to call for a housing policy that incorporates women’s safety.
Dr Paula Maycock, a researcher in Trinity College Dublin, argued that there is structural discrimination against women in housing markets. In the current housing crisis, women in abusive relationships are having to choose between homelessness, for both themselves and their children, and a continuation of their suffering.
Women’s refuge is a vital service, but it is not a long-term home. There is the issue, also mentioned throughout the conference, of retraumatisation. In the absence of safe, affordable housing, women can suffer intense trauma in facilities that evoke the anxiety of the relationships they are trying to escape.
The connection between domestic violence and housing precarity is further exacerbated for more marginalised communities.
Due to a lack of affordable housing, Ireland is experiencing a sex-for-rent crisis that disproportionately affects international students and migrant workers.
A number of other vulnerable communities of women were discussed, including disabled women, members of the travelling community, single mothers and young girls in State care.
The NWC will publish a report on some of the problems and solutions offered by speakers.