1. Action research on mid- to long-term
housing services for women who have
experienced violence
Lu Yongli, Xu Ruimei, Lai Wen-chen
Garden of Hope

2. 1. Background
At emergency
shelter – saw
problem women
have leaving violent
home
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Mid- to
Housing,
long-term
Finance,
shelter
Support

3. 2. Action Research
 Goals:
 Document admin strategies & work practices, develop
assessment plan, meet women’s mid- & long-term
housing needs
 Use assessment to gauge program efficiency
 Targets:
 Establish mid- to long-term housing program
 Understand women’s economic, career, emotional,
relationship, etc. needs
 Clarify the real needs of women & their children

4. 3. Needs assessment of women’s
survivors (cont.)
Housing
Adjustment
New
relationships
Finance
Child
schooling

5. 3. Common needs assessment: Job
& Rent
Housing, finance/employment
• Safe accommodation away from violent home
• Common needs assessment: Job & Rent
 Most find low-paid work in service industry
 Low salary limits housing choice
 Most landlords reject single mothers
• Affordable housing helps women leave cycle of violence
and poverty
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6.  Health
 Leave stressful environment
 Low sef-esteem, low self-confidence
 Physical/emotional care, self awareness
 No spare cash, low quality of life, health suffers
 Life
 Housing, accommodation, finance, employment,
childcare

7. Mid- / long-term housing
program introduction

8. 1. Clients
Women, survivors of violence, living in
Taoyuan, Taiwan
Need to care for young children
Survivors of violence, ready to live alone
Able or motivated to work, no savings
Slip through social welfare net
No serious mental illness
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9. 3. Administrative Targets
Mid- to long-term housing for 10 women
Long-term independent living assistance
Resource networks & adjustment strategies
Help women develop career plans, empowerment

10. Accommodation stages
early
 Max period:
0.5 yr
1 yr
1.5 yr
1 year
6 months: future life plan, career plan
Special cases: 6 month extension

11. Care Close Standards
 housing, health:
 Can live independently
 No need for social welfare
 Can make own social connections
 finance, employment
 Stable job
 relationships, children
 Healthy relationship with children & relatives
 Children settled in school

12. Program service elements
 Client services
 Housing service/visits: 2 visits per month
 Employment: information, training, communication with
employers
 Connection to resources
 Other services: introduction to counselors, etc.
 Program services
 Householder meetings
 Empowerment classes

13. Service Elements
finance
counseling
training
housing
career
relationships
children
(school)

14. How we help women rent an
apartment
 We help women choose where to live based on:
 Community safety
 Proximity to children’s school
 Workplace
 Convenience
 Women use the internet, brokers, friends’
recommendations. After finding a place, our
social worker will talk to the landlord.
 Depending on the circumstances, our social
worker may go together with the woman to look
for a place and talk to the landlord

15. How we help women rent an
apartment
 Introduce program, assess client’s motivation,
find suitable community
 NT$8,000 for rent plus NT$4,000 for each child up
to a max of NT$13,000 (min NT$4,500)
 Search for suitable housing, based on future ability
to pay rent, moving distance.
 Cheap rent vs. furnished apartment
 Unfurnished apartments have cheap rent, furnished
apartments have higher rent

16. Project Success Indicators
 Home stability
 Working towards independence
 Improving life skills
 Health stability
 Health recovery
 Improved social relations
 Economic, job stability
 Improved financial situation
 Better job security
 Improved job skills
 Children’s stability
 Stable schooling, improved health
 Improved parent-child relations

17. Conclusions & Reflections

18. Holistic social work – combining direct
& indirect services
Serving diverse clients
 Women vs. children, Clients vs landlords
 Understand different needs of children
Service and management
 Multi-issue programs (different clients, sectors, etc)
 Flexible thinking case workers and managers
 Micro-, meso-, macro-outlook
Family relationships and rebuilding
 Help women manage their families and care for their children

19. Community outreach
 From the family to the community
 Help to integrate into community
Community resources
 Community resources needed to support future life
 Level of community support impacts quality of life

20. Program coordinators
 Staff qualifications:
 Know about family management
 Know about child development
 Able to do situation analysis, make decisions, connect
resources
 Personnel management concerns
 Prepare for dangers of family visits and complex family issues
 Power relationships behind budget resources for services
 Need at least 2 social workers and 1 supervisor
 Service length & depth
 Challenge of recurring family problems
 Mid-, long-term housing; single parent
 Social values
 Value projection (eg: mobility, self responsibility)
 Influence on project management

21. Administration
 Housing contracts~
 NGO signs
 Risk of client getting a bad name, NGO risk of signing
contract, risk to social workers
 Woman signs contract
 Increased self-autonomy, -responsibility, control over life

22. Client services (1)
 Entry conditions
 Lowest capacity cases vs. Cases with some capacity
 Build service experience with successful cases, develop
housing model, take on tougher cases
 Clients from different backgrounds
 Shelter cases: Have least resources, most chose to
save money / gather support to leave home.
 Follow-up cases: Many at personal safety risk, not
prepared to leave home, follow-up needs not addressed
 Motherhood capacity building
 Challenges of child care, mothers bring up children in
different ways, children different ages, etc.

23. Client services (2)
 Pressure on clients
 Unpredictable impact on health, stress is common
after re-housing
 Apart from lasting trauma, poor decision-making
capacity, feelings of helplessness, worry, etc.
 Impact of DV
 Past married life & intimate partner violence impacts
women who want to live independently with children
 Fear of unknown
 Some women can’t deal with pressure
 Counseling for clients

24. Client services (3)
 Life needs
 Priority of stable finance
 Secondary need for support from friends, housing, work, victim
identity protected, etc.
 Goal to save money, escape poverty
 Spending highest in first 1-6 months, 7-9 months scrape by, 10-
12 months women start saving money
 Future concerns
 Worried about life after 1-year case period closes
 No steady job, need 6 months to adapt to new life
 Case benefits
 Less pressure on mother and children
 Less financial pressure, women better able to care for children,
manage household etc
 See self through relationships

25. Client services (4)
 Partnership between social workers and clients,
finding the balance
 Social worker helps client rebuild life, client
transforms reliance from ex-partner to social worker
 Sensitive to where to draw boundaries to stop overreliance
 Social worker’s role “guide” and “analyst”

26. Client’s suggestions
 Need at least 2-year program
 2-years needed to pave the way to stable and
sustainable life
 Influence on goal attainment
 Fear of unknown future, health, finance, childcare
 Child support
 Helps women concentrate on career
 Positive about social workers
 Social work is the backbone of program, supports
women emotionally

27. Thank you!
http://www.goh.org.tw
Tel：02-89118595
E-mail: master@goh.org.tw
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