Street Level Women at Risk Final Evaluation Report
Street Level Women at Risk (SLWAR) supports women experiencing homelessness and involved in street level sex work to secure housing and begin working towards achieving their goals.
“Through a collaborative community effort, unprecedented in its scope, Street Level Women at Risk has been successful in improving outcomes for the women we support,” says Cathy Nolan, Managing Director for SLWAR. “More women are living safely in their homes with access to the right supports at the right time. We help women to work towards achieving their goals, hopes and dreams.”
Using a housing stability approach, SLWAR provides housing finding services and housing allowances along with intensive in-home support, coordinated referrals, and intentional connections focused on sustainable exit strategies, long-term health and well-being, and community integration and belonging.
SLWAR operates as a service collaboration of 30 programs representing 27 organizations, including the City of London. The strength of the collaboration is the diversity of its representation, including homeless serving organizations, addiction services, mental health and physical health services, violence against women services, corrections and justice services, public health services, child welfare services, and social service providers.
“Thanks to the hard work of SLWAR, many women facing homelessness are finding permanent housing,” says Laura Cornish, City of London Homeless Prevention. “The evaluation report demonstrates the tremendous outcomes this team has reached using a collaborative and housing stability focused approach.”
A three year evaluation has been completed to measure outcomes at an individual, program and system level. Some highlights of the evaluation include:
- 100% of women secured permanent housing
- 65% decreased their involvement with sex work
- 57% of women had increased contact with their children
- 47% of women experienced improved mental health
- 96% of collaborative members are better able to support women engaged in street level sex work