GLC is aiming to raise £5,000 to get the project started with a view to ultimately raising £20,000 to provide a more holistic, integrated service.

The project will go into women’s support organisations and provide legal services, advice and assistance and money and welfare right services. GLC lawyers will defend evictions and repossessions, help women make homelessness applications and support them through the homelessness process

GLC has become concerned that some of their homeless women clients can spend years in expensive temporary accommodation, which leaves them in limbo, puts their life on hold and can cause real financial hardship for them and their children.

Lorna Walker, senior solicitor and GLC partner said: “Women’s experience of homelessness is different to men. They spend longer in temporary accommodation, they are more like to be looking after children, and they tend to stay in abusive or violent relationships to avoid homelessness.

“Rough sleeping can be particularly dangerous for women. Women’s homelessness tends to be more hidden. At the sharp end of this women can be exploited. It’s more difficult for them to access legal services. Many women facing these issues will not approach a solicitor’s office. We have learned we need to take our services out to them.”

“Women need support to care for their children, they need protected from eviction and repossession, they need to leave abusive partners and they need financial assistance. Ultimately they want to find a decent safe home. And with the right funding we can start to help them do this”

Mike Dailly, solicitor advocate and GLC principal solicitor added: “Providing specific legal services for women who are homeless is something we have wanted to do for many years. If we raise £5,000 we can make a great start and run rights hubs for women, which we can evaluate and hopefully build on.

“If we can raise £20,000 we can make a real impact on the lives of homeless women. We need more test cases, raise more court action and more judicial reviews, to challenge some of the deep seated gender inequalities in our homeless system. Please support our crowd funding for women who are homeless in anyway you can.”

Govan Law Centre crowdfunder