Memorandum by Women's Aid (HOM 28)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Women's Aid Federation of England (Women's Aid)
is the national domestic violence charity which co-ordinates and
supports a network of over 300 local organisations in England,
providing over 500 refuges, helplines, outreach services and advice
centres. Our work is built on 30 years of campaigning and developing
new responses to domestic violence.
Women's Aid works in partnership nationally
and locally with government departments, social services, police,
health care professionals and other voluntary organisations to
provide an integrated approach to domestic violence. Every year
approximately 54,000 women and children stay in refuges in England.
Women's Aid also runs the Freephone 24 Hour National Domestic
Violence Helpline in partnership with one of our members, Refuge.
In 2002, our Helpline answered over 18,000 calls from women seeking
advice and support and access to local refuges and domestic violence
services. A further 68,000 callers could not get through due to
a lack of resources.
Women's Aid welcomes the opportunity to provide
written evidence to the inquiry into homelessness. Our response
is based on comprehensive consultation with our national network
of domestic violence services. In summary:
— It is becoming increasingly difficult
to re-house women from refuges into suitable permanent affordable
housing, as a direct result of the serious shortage of housing
in this country.
— Women who are re-housed from refuges
are often housed on "sink" estates in poor housing or
in the poorest private rented accommodation.
— Women are remaining for much longer
periods in refuges creating bottlenecks in refuges, which in turn
means that women who want to access refuge services cannot because
there is no space.
— Women who have no dependent children
who are fleeing domestic violence have to undergo a test of vulnerability
in order to be accepted as homeless and in priority need. This
does not apply to women in the same circumstances in Wales.
— The "Sanctuary model" of
providing additional safety measures to the home is not applicable
to women who do not chose to take that option because of fear
of further violence. In a growing number of local authorities,
it is presented as the only option.
— Women with no recourse to public
funds are denied housing, leaving these women little option other
than to return to their violent partner. Many women's refuge organisations
also do not have resources to provide accessible services, for
example for minority ethnic women; women without English as a
first language; disabled women; women with mental health or substance
misuse problems; women with children up to 16 years of age, and
women with insecure immigration status. This most vulnerable group
of women experiencing domestic violence are often denied access
to a place of safety.
— There is a significant lack of provision
for children made homeless because of domestic violence and insufficient
resources for local specialist domestic violence crisis and support
services for children and young people, not only in refuges but
also in the local community.
— Housing authorities and providers
have no national minimum standards for identifying and responding
to domestic violence, which should mandatory training, protocols
for routine questioning, recording, risk assessment and safety
planning, safe referral to specialist services, and regular monitoring
to ensure particular regard to increasing victim safety and perpetrator
accountability.
Women's Aid welcomes the opportunity to submit
further oral evidence. It is important that this Inquiry addresses
not only the inadequate homelessness responses to women and children
experiencing domestic violence, but also recognises that women
may also experiencing other forms of violence against women including
rape and sexual assault, sexual harassment, forced marriage, FGM,
prostitution and pornography, and trafficking, all of which may
contribute to and exacerbate a woman's experience of homelessness.
We also therefore recommend that other violence against women
services are also called to submit evidence.
1. THE OVERALL
LEVEL AND
THE NATURE
OF NEED
FOR HOUSING
HOMELESS PEOPLE
1.1 Domestic Violence is recognized as a
major cause of homelessness: relationship breakdown is one of
the top three causes of homelessness[28]
and repeat homelessness.
1.2 Recent government statistics show that
22% (almost 28,000) of homeless households lost their home following
relationship breakdown, of these 70% were due to domestic violence.
2. THE SUCCESS
OF POLICIES
MEETING THE
NEEDS OF
HOMELESS HOUSEHOLDS
2.1 One of the most important needs of women
leaving home due to violence is access to safe, secure permanent
housing. Women who are unintentionally homeless because of domestic
violence are single or have dependent children. In some instances
a small number of women will be intentionally homeless. It is
our experience that policies to meet their needs have promised
much but delivered little. In the case of intentionally homeless
women, whilst local authority policies and the legislation states
that they may be assisted with housing, in reality they are placed
on a waiting list and will remain there forever owing to the pressures
on local authorities to re-house homeless persons when they have
ever dwindling resources.
2.2 The Homelessness Act 2002 and the Code
of Guidance has brought some positive changes to the safety net
provided to victims of domestic violence. The widening of the
definition of homelessness to include any applicant who is suffering
violence/threats of violence from another person should enable
more vulnerable people to gain access to housing. The Act's amendment
of the definition of local connection prevents local authorities
referring applicants to another local authority area in which
they have previously suffered violence and would be liable to
experience further violence. However, Women's Aid is concerned
that problems with implementing the legislation and guidance still
remain. These are outlined below
3. FACTORS AFFECTING
THE SUCCESSFUL
IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE HOMELESSNESS
ACT 2002
3.1 Women's Aid's consultation with the
national network of domestic violence services indicates that
the biggest problem with the current homelessness legislation
is the inconsistency of implementation across the country when
dealing with victims of domestic violence, including significant
differences within the same local authority area, and also across
London Boroughs.
3.2 Recent research[29]
found that local authorities are a key agency encountered by women
survivors seeking help. Yet a quarter of the women who had contact
with local housing departments (115 women) identified problems
including:
— Very long waiting times in temporary
accommodation (and it being inappropriate and unsafe).
— Problem being accepted as "homeless"—not
being taken seriously and being asked to "prove" domestic
violence.
— Women being advised to return home
with injunctions even when they felt unsafe to do so.
— Not being informed about other services
including women's refuges.
3.3 Women's refuges also report that women
who go to the housing department on their own often receive a
worse response than those who attend with an advocate or support
worker. Some women are so distressed after homeless interviews
that they consider returning home, feeling they are to blame for
the abuse. Some local authorities only offer women space in local
refuges without exploring other options, even if it is unsafe
to stay locally, while others do not refer to local refuges but
allocate their own unsupported temporary accommodation, without
considering the woman's needs for safety and support.
3.4 The Homelessness Code of Guidance encourages
local authorities to demonstrate sensitivity to women fleeing
violence, the Code is not mandatory, and local authorities are
not bound by the Code when making decisions on homelessness. The
decision of vulnerability is at the discretion of the local authority
to which victims of domestic violence apply. We believe that all
women fleeing domestic violence are vulnerable and should be regarded
as such by homelessness legislation.
Whilst they may be accepted as homeless, it
is our experience that significant numbers of single women, with
no dependent children, escaping domestic violence experience particular
difficulties getting rehoused
3.5 The Homeless Persons (Priority Need)
(Wales) Order 2001 extends the definition of priority need in
Wales to include anyone who is fleeing domestic violence or who
is at risk of violence if s/he returns home. This provides a better
means of protecting victims of domestic violence and would also
minimise inconsistencies in local authority practice[30]
It would afford equal treatment under the law to women fleeing
violence who do not have dependant children with them in the same
way as those who do not.
WOMEN'S
AID RECOMMENDS
THAT THE
WELSH ORDER
BE ADOPTED
IN ENGLAND
3.6 The time it takes to be rehoused from
a refuge also appears to have increased significantly. Some refuges,
report that women and children in their refuges have to wait between
12-18 months, sometimes longer, before being rehoused. This is
in large part due to local authorities' "target" to
reduce the numbers of families in Bed and Breakfast (an example
of a government target in one policy area having a detrimental
impact on another). The lack of suitable affordable housing in
many areas makes it almost impossible for women and children in
refuges and temporary accommodation to access move-on accommodation.
It is unacceptable that families have to stay in emergency refuge
accommodation for this length of time. Waiting longer for rehousing
institutionalizes abused women and their children. It also produces
a bottleneck in refuges meaning women are not able to leave violent
relationships, and women also more likely to return to violent
partners.
3.7 Lack of access to move-on is being exacerbated
for refuges that offer self-contained accommodation on assured
shorthold tenancies. Local authorities are refusing to accept
women in refuges as homeless because they have a tenancy—which
a growing number of local authorities argue may be renewed by
the refuge provider. It is our view that it is not acceptable
for local authorities to use refuges in this way, but experience
shows that this is happening now.
3.8 Another disturbing trend is that the
licence agreement which is the usual agreement allowing permission
to occupy given to women residents in refuges is also being perceived
by local authorities as a means to evade their statutory duty
to women who are homeless because of domestic violence.
A woman who had fled violence from the North
West of England to a refuge in a metropolitan city where she had
family support networks applied to the city council as a homeless
person for re-housing. Her application under the homeless legislation
was refused because she was in a refuge under a licence agreement
and was deemed to be not homeless. An appeal against this decision
to the authority concerned was dismissed as invalid as she has
somewhere to live!
3.9 Women's Aid is also concerned that local
housing authorities' dependence upon private sector landlords
is increasing particularly in areas where there is a lack of suitable
affordable social housing. After a stay in the refuge local authorities
may require families to stay a further six months in temporary
accommodation before being rehoused. Alternatively women may be
housed in a private letting on a six-month tenancy, after which
the landlord may reclaim the property to sell it, leading to revolving
door homelessness for women and children.
3.10 In some areas private rented accommodation
is the only option available. Research has linked the numbers
of homeless acceptances in domestic violence cases by individual
local authorities to local housing market conditions. In areas
of high demand, women are being asked to obtain legal remedies
to resolve their housing problems before they present as homeless,
or be referred out of the area regardless of their wish to live
there[31]
However, renting from a private landlord does not usually offer
a good source of long-term, permanent accommodation. In addition,
privately rented accommodation can be very expensive, priced outside
the range of people on low incomes. In the cheaper tenancies,
conditions are usually very poor and the accommodation is often
limited to bedsits with little comfort and no security, leaving
women fleeing domestic violence particularly vulnerable. But even
these cheaper options may cost more than women can afford, especially
in the capital. This makes it extremely difficult for many women
to make use of private rented accommodation. On average, women
have lower incomes than men and therefore find it harder to gain
access to housing in the private sector[32]
3.11 Women's Aid recommends that Local authorities
should develop local move-on strategies to reduce the logjam of
refuge residents waiting for re-housing. This is essential where
local authorities have little or no housing stock of their own,
a situation which is likely to become worse with transfer of local
authority housing stock to RSLs.
4. THE BALANCE
OF PUBLIC
INVESTMENT IN
HOUSING FOR
KEY WORKERS
AND HOMELESS
PEOPLE
4.1 The shortage of affordable housing for
owner occupation by "key" workers has been given a great
deal of attention in the media. Women's Aid supports efforts to
assist key workers to achieve home ownership, but it must not
be at the expense of developing housing for those most in housing
need. There are currently more than 80,000 homeless households
living in temporary accommodation and over one million on council
waiting lists, and in excess of half a million households who
are officially overcrowded[33]
To achieve the government's objective that everyone should have
the opportunity of a decent home, the allocation of resources
must prioritise those most in need—clearly the homeless.
5. WHETHER PUBLIC
AGENCIES ARE
EFFECTIVE IN
PREVENTING PEOPLE
BECOMING HOMELESS
5.1 Women's refuge organizations do not
only offer safe housing but also need to provide a range of support
services in the refuge and via outreach in the community: practical
help, emotional support and counseling, information and advocacy
in the areas of housing, legal, health, employment and training,
education and welfare services; children's support and advocacy
services; outreach including telephone help-lines, support groups,
drop-in centres, advice surgeries and resettlement services; and
in some areas there are specialist dedicated services for Black
and minority ethnic women and children, for disabled women and
for lesbians experiencing domestic violence. Many of these services
are ineligible for Supporting People funding. It must also be
acknowledged that full domestic violence outreach and advocacy
services are not comparable to housing-related floating support
services. Though floating support is welcome, it is much more
limited in scope.
5.2 Women's Aid recommends the provision
of a national programme of comprehensive outreach and advocacy
services to help and support women, children and young people
to rebuild their lives, which is fundamental to helping women
stay safely in their own.
5.3 The effectiveness of any housing policy
is dependent on co-ordinated androbust criminal and civil justice
response to domestic violence. Furthermore, the protection and
support offered by Women's Aid organizations, in refuges and through
outreach services, underpins the effective operation of all local
authority, civil and criminal justice interventions and are consistently
regarded as most helpful by survivors[34]
5.4 Women's Aid recommends that funding
allocated to local authorities to reduce and prevent homelessness
be specifically targeted for domestic violence provision and prevention,
accompanied by a requirement to prioritise domestic violence in
the development of local Homelessness Strategies.
5.5 Women's Aid also recommends that all
housing departments/Registered Social Landlords receive mandatory
training on identifying and responding effectively to domestic
violence and are required by legislation to develop and implement
domestic violence policies and guidance for intervention that
includes routine questioning, recording, risk assessment and safety
planning, safe referral to specialist services, and regular monitoring
to ensure particular regard to increasing victim safety and perpetrator
accountability.
5.6 All women experiencing domestic violence
should have equal access to the provisions within homelessness
legislation, including women with insecure immigration status.
Many women's refuge organisations also do not have resources to
provide accessible services, for example for minority ethnic women;
disabled women; women with mental health or substance use problems;
women with children up to 16 years of age. This most vulnerable
group of women experiencing domestic violence are often denied
access to a place of safety.
5.7 Women's Aid urgently recommends that
any woman experiencing domestic violence has equal access to public
funds, safety and protection opportunities and subsequently be
treated equally under the civil and criminal law. One of the most
fundamental provisions in the Human Rights Convention, Article
2, states that everyone has a right to life. It also places on
the state a positive duty to protect life so women subject to
immigration control who also experience domestic violence must
have the same right to services, support and protection from statutory
agencies as other abused women.
5.8 To achieve this we strongly recommend—An
exemption to the "no recourse to public funds" rule
for women experiencing domestic violence and subject to immigration
control, so that they have access to benefits or other government
funding, for housing and living expenses. In the interim the government
should fund refuges and other domestic violence services on application
to meet the accommodation costs and living expenses for women
they house who have insecure immigration status and no recourse
to public funds.
6. WHETHER PUBLIC
AGENCIES ARE
EFFECTIVE IN
PREVENTING PEOPLE
BECOMING HOMELESS
There need to be more support services to prevent
people becoming homeless in the first place, such as advocacy,
and ongoing support, particularly in relation to domestic violence.
These need to be made more widely available and better targeted
in order to enable victims of domestic violence to remain in their
own homes should they wish to do so. Recent online consultation
with survivors[35]
also gave abused women a chance to identify their priorities:
— More support services—refuges,
resettlement, outreach and advocacy—and more resources.
6.1 Women's Aid supports measures to prevent
homelessness by improving the security of the home to enable the
victim to remain safely in the accommodation, based on the model
of the Sanctuary project in Harrow. However this should only
be considered if:
— there is no risk of further violence;
and
— this is what the woman herself wants.
6.2 We are extremely concerned that local
authorities, as part of their prevention of homelessness strategies,
are insisting that additional security measures are the only option,
and refusal to participate in the scheme would lead to women being
refused access to housing via the homelessness route, or offered
housing miles away from their social networks and children's schools.
A woman who applied as homeless from a refuge
was told that she could either have the additional security measures
placed at her former home or be re-housed 30 miles away, which
would have left her bereft of family support networks isolated
from friends and children would have to be uprooted from their
schools.
6.3 Guidance is also needed for local authority
housing departments to require them to fund additional security
measures to a property, irrespective of whether it is social housing
or privately owned, instead of housing women and children in temporary
accommodation.
6.4 The homelessness Code of Guidance (6.21)
states, "When dealing with domestic violence within the home
housing authorities should consider the scope for evicting the
perpetrator and allowing the victim to remain in the home".
We support the principle that perpetrators' behaviour should be
subject to sanctions and also constitute a breach of tenancy agreement.
However proceedings undertaken by the landlord must not further
endanger women and children. Such action would seriously exacerbate
an already volatile situation and would lead to the violent partner
being found to be intentionally homeless and give further impetus
to the continuation of post-separation violence.
7. PRIORITY FOR
THE HOMELESS
WITHIN THE
OVERALL ALLOCATION
OF SOCIAL
HOUSING
7.1 The adequacy of investment in housing
for homeless people and the quality of accommodation available
for them is a matter of serious concern. It requires a massive
increase in investment in building new homes for people who need
them alongside the investment to improve homes in disrepair. Local
authorities need the resources to repair their housing stock alongside
development of new homes with RSLs.
7.2 The shortage in the supply of good quality
social housing means that many women and children fleeing domestic
violence will spend a period of time in temporary accommodation
provided by the local authority. Refuges are the most suitable
form of temporary accommodation for women and children fleeing
domestic violence because of the specialist support they provide.
Refuges only account for approximately 15% of temporary placements
and there are considerable gaps in service provision throughout
England[36]
Lack of alternatives, particularly in high demand areas, means
that women and children fleeing violence are placed in other less
suitable forms of accommodation.
7.3 Women's Aid want victims of domestic
violence and their children to receive good quality support regardless
of the type of temporary accommodation they are placed in. The
current situation does not require local authorities to place
people in temporary accommodation that gives them access to specialist
domestic violence support, which often results in women leaving
and possibly returning to a violent situation before they are
made an offer of permanent accommodation. ODPM statistics show
that in 2001-02 a quarter of all temporary placements ended in
this way, a significant proportion of these will include women
and children fleeing violence and may result in them becoming
homeless again.
7.4 Women's Aid recommends that the government
should set minimum standards for the physical standard for temporary
accommodation and the support provided to homeless persons, as
is the case for refuges. We are also concerned about the sub-standard
quality of housing being allocated to some women on leaving refuges.
Good practice has been developed in some areas where a domestic
violence panel has been established to fast track housing applications,
accompanied by resources to provide resettlement and longer-term
Women's Aid outreach support for women and children in the community.
7.5 Many women fleeing violence are rehoused
successfully in either council or housing association properties,
and are enabled to start new lives. The Homelessness Act 2002
has improved this for some, but for others, the decrease in the
availability of socially rented housing, the consequent hoops
through which some councils expect abused women to jump, and the
cumulative effects of government housing policies over the last
25 years in terms of access to permanent rehousing can make the
search for permanent housing a nightmare.
Linda Delahay
Housing Policy and Services Officer
28 Homelessness Directorate Briefing December 2003. Back
29
Humphreys and Thiara, Routes to Safety, Women's Aid Federation
of England, 2002. Back
30
Welsh Statutory Instrument 2001, No. 607 (W.30). The Homeless
Persons (Priority Need) (Wales) Order 2001 No.5. Back
31
Davis C (2003) Housing Associations-Rehousing Women Leaving Domestic
Violence, Bristol: The Policy Press. Back
32
The London Housing Unit5 found that only 19% of women could afford
to rent a bedsit in London without assistance from housing benefit,
as compared with 57% of men. It demonstrated that privately rented
housing, in London at least, was only slightly more affordable
than owner occupation. This has remained the case to date with
rents in many cities, especially London, prohibitively high. Back
33
Shelter. Back
34
Women's National Commission, Unlocking The Secret, 2003. Back
35
Hansard Society, Womenspeak, 2002. Back
36
DTLR WAFE, LRC research 1998. Back
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