Examination of Witnesses (Questions 157
- 159)
TUESDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2008
MS NICOLA
HARWIN, MS
SANDRA HORLEY
AND MS
JASVINDER SANGHERA
Chairman: Can I refer all those present
to the Register of Members' Interests where members of this Committee
have declared their relevant interests. Can I welcome Jasvinder
Sanghera, Sandra Horley and Nicola Harwin to this session on the
domestic violence and forced marriages inquiry that the Home Affairs
Select Committee is conducting. Margaret Moran?
Q157 Margaret Moran: Welcome,
and a question primarily to Sandra but Nicola may want to chip
in, in relation to housing. Having endured long hours on the Housing
and Regeneration Bill, we have been discussing the issues around
the availability of safe, affordable housing for survivors of
domestic violence and the issues around the private rented sector,
and we talk a great deal about the sanctuary Scheme. Can you say
a bit about how effective that is and what other measures you
think should be taken to ensure that survivors of domestic violence
do have the option to remain in their home if they choose to do
so or have other safe alternatives?
Ms Horley: Thank you Margaret,
multiple questions, and I will try to take each one of those in
turn. The key points I want to make are, firstly, there is not
enough social housing, and as a consequence of that refuge bed
spaces become blocked with women and children having to stay for
longer periods of time in refuges. This puts additional pressure
on the refuge sector which, as many of you will not be surprised
to learn, is overstretched and under-resourced, and we are full
to overflowing. In fact, nearly one-third of local authorities
still do not provide domestic violence services despite the 1992
Select Committee which said—and I quote—"The
first priority for government action on domestic violence should
be the establishment of a central, co-ordinated policy for refuge
provision throughout the country. We believe that this could be
the greatest cost-saving measure that could be taken". The
greatest cost-saving measure. This was the 1992 Select Committee.
An additional pressure is that Refuge is also housing women with
no recourse to public funds who have no access to social housing
at all. Refuge is currently housing 22 women and it is costing
us £200,000 each year, and we cannot sustain this level of
funding. This is, I am afraid, just the tip of the iceberg. It
is also very difficult for single women to access social housing.
The Committee will no doubt be aware that there is a general problem
of accessing social housing across the country, although the situation
does seem to be most chronic in London where there is little social
housing available. In some London boroughs we are seeing the available
stock go down year after year. The local authority in Hounslow
has only 72 properties available for homelessness applications,
so when women do get accepted as being homeless and in priority
need for housing, it is often the case that they have to wait
a long time for suitable housing to become available, sometimes
several years, and this is blocking up refuge bed spaces.
Q158 Chairman: Thank you. We do need
to be much briefer in our answers. We have 21 questions to all
our witnesses and we have to finish at 11.15, I am so sorry.
Ms Horley: Do you want me to address
the point of Sanctuary schemes?
Q159 Margaret Moran: I am going to
ask another question so you may be able to slip it in there, if
that helps, and perhaps Nicola would like to add something as
well. We have heard a great deal also about some local authorities
defining survivors of domestic violence who leave their homes
as intentionally homeless, and in the context particularly of
Sanctuary schemes, that is being offered as the option rather
than one of a range of safe options. Could you perhaps finish
your answer and incorporate that?
Ms Horley: I am afraid that local
authorities have a huge problem, but they are safeguarding their
stock and they are discouraging women from making applications.
Sanctuary schemes—and I do not mean to be cynical—can
work as part of a wider package of services but they are often
used by local authorities to stop giving women the right of choice
of alternative housing. The problem with Sanctuary schemes is
that women have to go to work, they have to go to the shops and
they have to take their children to school, so it is not necessarily
safe for them. I am afraid that all too often local authorities
are using this as a way of not offering alternative accommodation.
Ms Harwin: Can I add to that and
say I think the intention of the Sanctuary schemes and the guidance
that attaches to them is the assumption that there is also the
provision of outreach support, floating support or some kind of
support throughout outreach from local domestic violence services,
and very often that is not in place, that is not provided. We
have had anecdotal evidence from one of our trustees in the South
West where when the Sanctuary schemes were brought in, the local
authority said, "We have got a supply of locks and various
things in a cupboard somewhere and that will do." Honestly,
that was literally what someone said. Obviously they were enlightened
by the local service provider. I think it is a real problem. No
form of provision is going to work unless the appropriate support
to the person's need in that situation is provided. Can I just
add on "no recourse"—just another point to make
is—
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