Hostel for women offers a vital refuge

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Trish Moses, a resident at Regina Coeli House in west Belfast. Credit: Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph

Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph

Trish Moses, a resident at Regina Coeli House in west Belfast. Credit: Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph

January 25 2022 11:00 AM

What is the point of all the talk about helping to protect women, keep them safe, encourage them to speak out against violence if we can’t even give them somewhere safe to stay when they need it most?

Staff at Northern Ireland’s only all-female homeless hostel were told in November it would be closing. The building needs ‘significant’ repairs.

The remaining three residents of the Regina Coeli hostel in west Belfast say they will refuse to leave the building they call their “sanctuary”.

In the meantime the hostel has had to turn away women fleeing domestic abuse.

Despite being handed her redundancy notice, staff member Bernie Herald still turns up every day to make sure the remaining women have all they need to feel safe and secure.

That dedication to duty seems to be lacking elsewhere.

“If those politicians who stood at vigils for murdered women want to do something practical to help, they can start by saving this hostel” are her words.

It’s the worst possible look for Northern Ireland at a time when violence against women is in the headlines more than ever.

More women were starting to feel able to break the silence, sometimes going back decades.

More people than ever believe violence against women is a major problem in today’s society.

Why then at a time when Northern Ireland is supposed to be trying to help women who find themselves in threatening relationships and who have found the courage to seek help, are we being seen to turn them away?

The hostel has been providing temporary accommodation to the homeless in Belfast since 1935.

A survey of the building found that it needed substantial repairs, and campaigners say this is due to generations of neglect, mirroring the generations of neglect suffered by women who are beginning to find a voice.

Those campaigners have begged the Housing Executive for help. They have asked politicians. They have asked the Department of Communities.

Some of the women asked to move out have been asked to live independently, but they may not be ready to live without support yet. Some have been asked to move to mixed hostels when what they need is support in all-female surroundings.

What the hostel has been offering is an irreplaceable service.

It’s a service Northern Ireland needs to be adding to, not taking away.