Precarious Capital: A Qualitative Study Investigating the Role of Relationships When Women Navigate Experiences of Homelessness and Violence

Research investigating the experiences of women experiencing homelessness often highlights the prevalence of (sexual/domestic) violence and abuse in their trajectories. Drawing on observations across a sample of English statutory and voluntary sector homelessness services and 60 semi-structured interviews with practitioners and with women with homelessness experiences, this study explores these experiences of gender-based violence and the relational impact these may have had on women's help-seeking. Findings suggest that experiences of violence are often normalized, leading some of the women to develop informal, often risky, strategies to protect themselves from violence, using precarious social capital to find ways out of homelessness.