Downtown Women's Action Coalition (DWAC)  

Formed in April 2001, the Downtown Women's Action Coalition (DWAC) consists of service providers, advocates and downtown residents whose goals are to improve current housing and services for women and increase the available resources. After successfully obtaining funding for a collaborative effort to provide emergency shelter and support services, DWAC determined that a thorough needs assessment was imperative in order to adequately address the many complex problems that women face. It was this realization that led to the planning, design and execution of the Downtown Women's Needs Assessment.

The purpose of the assessment was not to verify or disprove social theories concerning the causes of homelessness. Similarly, the project's goal was not to determine root causes or contributing factors among the individual respondents (though some such information can be inferred from the data). The survey was designed to identify the current needs and characteristics of women living downtown in order to assist the community in designing housing and programs appropriate to actual needs.

2010 Needs Assessment Report PDF

2007 Needs Assessment Report PDF

2004 Needs Assessment Report PDF

2001 Needs Assessment Report PDF

How do you participate in DWAC?

Please contact Volunteer Coordiantor Steven Alvarez at (213) 228-0024 or StevenA@DWCweb.org.

2010 Needs Assessment Overview

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

As the fastest growing segment of the homeless population in the United States, women face unique challenges and barriers. Nowhere is the issue of homelessness more critical and transparent than in Los Angeles’ Skid Row community. As the hub of transient communities in the United States, Los Angeles has become what many refer to as the capital of homelessness in America. Of this population, perhaps the most underserved and overlooked segment are homeless, formerly homeless, and very low-income women. With rising pressures of the recession, homeless women are finding themselves in increasingly desperate and undignified situations.
 

Primary Findings

• Women are suffering from long-term, chronic homelessness more than ever. Forty (39.3) percent of the women stated they were homeless for five years or more, a ten percent jump from the 2007 survey.
   

• Due to chronic homelessness, this population faces aging and end of life issues. Nearly half (47 percent) of the women surveyed were 51 years and older. In addition to their struggles to get basic needs met, this segment must also grapple with ageing issues.
   

• The survey found gaps in education prominent in this population. Over a third (36.4 percent) lacked a high school diploma or GED equivalent. Only eight (7.6) percent had college degrees-- the lowest level since this creation of this study in 2001.
   

• In the past year, a majority (62 percent) of women— had slept in an emergency or transitional shelter, and over half had slept on the streets, in an abandoned building, a vehicle, or a park.
   

• Nearly three-fourths (72.8 percent) of the women surveyed identified affordable permanent housing as the biggest need in the community.
   

• The barriers to obtaining affordable housing remain unchanged from past surveys. Most (64.2 percent) women identified waiting lists as the main obstacle in obtaining housing.
   

• Nearly half (49.3 percent) of the women surveyed had faced sexual assault, domestic violence or child abuse in their lifetime. Of these women, a shocking 72.3 percent said that they were not offered services or help to deal with the after-effects of the violence.
   

• Resources to address the health and well being of this community were identified as severely lacking. When asked about their general health, 54.7 percent of respondents rated it as fair or poor. Additionally, 62.5 percent said they had a disability and half were affected by mental illness.
   

• Of the 15.8 percent of women that indicated an abnormal Pap smear or mammogram result in the past three years, nearly half (47.6 percent) were not able to get follow-up treatment.
   

• Less than ten (9.7) percent of women surveyed believed there were employment opportunities available downtown-- the lowest response ever.
   

• Nearly a third (30.8 percent) of women surveyed had received a ticket or citation in the past year. Half (50 percent) of the infractions were for jaywalking. Pedestrian signal violations can cost between $159 and $191 — a steep cost for individuals on a monthly fixed income ranging from $200 to $800, or with no income at all. If citations go unpaid, a warrant for arrest can be issued which, in turn, jeopardizes an individual’s ability to access or maintain housing.
   

Acknowledgements

The Downtown Women’s Action Coalition (DWAC) would like to deeply thank the women residents of downtown Los Angeles who shared their stories and truly gave voice to the needs of their community. DWAC sincerely appreciates the spirit with which women participated in this survey; without their interviews, this research project would not have been possible.

We gratefully recognize the more than 40 volunteers who dedicated their time and support for this project. As with our previous three reports, this project was enriched by the involvement of diverse community members.

This report was prepared for DWAC by Anchal Bibra. The following DWAC members and supporters also contributed considerable time and effort to making the report possible: Patrick Shandrick for report design and layout; Becky Dennison and Deborah Burton for data entry and feedback; Barbara Holtwick for data entry; Esther Alejandro for Spanish translation of survey instrument; Brianna Freiheit, Carolyn Gray Anderson, and Molly Moen for editing; Amanda Peterson and Samantha Stanley for research support; and Steven Alvarez and Kelly Rios for their leadership with the instrument design and survey implementation process. We greatly appreciate all other DWAC members for providing input and assisting with various aspects of the project.

Finally, DWAC would like to recognize community organizations who participated in the project, for donating staff time, gifts for respondents, resources for volunteer stipends, lunch for volunteers, and space for interviews at their sites:
Downtown Women’s Center
Lamp Community
Los Angeles Community Action Network
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
Los Angeles Mission – Anne Douglas Center for Women
Planned Parenthood
Skid Row Housing Trust
St. Vincent’s Cardinal Manning Center
Union Rescue Mission
Volunteers of America