As the founder of U.K. nonprofit The Esther Project, Lianne Kirkman’s work to provide refuge, recovery, and rehabilitation to women experiencing homelessness has been at the forefront of her career for over a decade.
But this year, in an effort to truly learn more about the lived experiences of the people her organization serves, Kirkman set off on a 10-stop tour across the country, meeting with other shelters and nonprofits — and sleeping on the street for 10 nights in a row.
She started at her home base of Royal Leamington Spa on February 1 of this year and then traveled to Coventry, Birmingham, Bristol, Plymouth, Southampton, London, Doncaster, Hull, and Blackpool.
She finally arrived back home earlier this week.
“I am so grateful for the fact that I can go home,” she said in a video posted on Facebook. “It’s been awful every morning thinking I can’t go home and I can’t get in a bed. This has been one experience I will never, ever forget.”
Along her stops, Kirkman met with other nonprofits working to specifically support women facing abuse, addiction, and homelessness.
“I want to see what's working for them in the areas of counseling, employability, homelessness, and women in and out of the criminal justice system,” she told The BBC. “There are some great projects out there.”
Some of her hosts included Blackpool & Flyde Street Angels, Lancashire Women, Together Women Project, and Trevi Women.
“These amazing women’s centers we are visiting are clearly showing us what works and how to get it right,” Kirkman wrote on Facebook. “For the last 10 years of running a mixed-gender charity, I know, even more so now, that we need to do so much more for women.”
Women experiencing homelessness face unique hurdles that often go overlooked. According to The Esther Project, 65% of Londoners in temporary accommodation are women.
But many do not feel safe with those accommodations and those who cannot access them also avoid the dangers of street-sleeping, as well, leaving them without any place to go.
“I’m visiting some mixed-gender centers to see how many women are coming, and it’s the same story: Women don’t come,” Kirkman said in a video on her ninth night in the cold.
“They don’t come because it’s not always safe for them to come. If you’ve left domestic abuse, you’re not going to come to a male-dominated space.”
Kirkman’s journey was meant to truly understand these realities.
Some nights, she didn’t know where she’d reside.
“Women tend not to bed down because it’s not safe. They walk around all night,” Kirkman said in another video.
“When the council do their homeless count … in order to be included in the count, you have to be seen bedded down. You have to actually be seen. Because women don’t bed down, that’s why people think they’re not there. But they are there. And that’s what we’re trying to show.”
To “bed down” simply means to lie down somewhere to sleep.
On another night, Kirkman did stay inside a shelter when a Severe Weather Emergency Protocol was enacted in Winchester, which helped her think about what women might need to feel safe indoors.
“It’s not about homelessness. It’s all about trauma,” Kirkman said. “It’s about how we’re responding through a gender lens, through a trauma lens, for women. And we’ve not been getting it right.”
In addition to raising awareness, the 10-night sleepout has raised over £14,000 (or about $17,400 USD) for The Esther Project. It will go towards opening a new “one stop shop women’s center” in Warwickshire.
Kirkman said she originally thought she’d raise £5,000, but the support on her journey was greater than expected.
“We are really amazed by the support we’re getting,” she said in her final video update. “This was mainly a research project for me. This was about working out best practices for women, and I’ve been amazed by some of the fantastic organizations I’ve been to.”
“You’ve taught me a lot,” Kirkman continued. “I know what we need to do.”
Header images courtesy of Lianne Kirkman/The Esther Project
