Report calls for priority to be given to people made homeless as a result of fleeing domestic abuse

Thursday, 30 May 2019 09:45

Crisis and the All Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness have today published a report on domestic abuse and homelessness. Download full report Executive summary There are more than 170,000 families and individuals experiencing the worst forms of homelessness in Great Britain. If current trends continue, this is expected to almost double in the next 25 years. No one should end up facing homelessness due to domestic abuse, but unfortunately, this is all too often the case....Request free trial

Crisis and the All Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness have today published a report on domestic abuse and homelessness.

Download full report

Executive summary

There are more than 170,000 families and individuals experiencing the worst forms of homelessness in Great Britain.

If current trends continue, this is expected to almost double in the next 25 years. No one should end up facing homelessness due to domestic abuse, but unfortunately, this is all too often the case.

Under the current legislation, people who are homeless due to domestic abuse are not automatically considered to be in priority need for settled accommodation. Instead, people are required to prove they are more vulnerable than an ordinary person would be if made homeless to be owed the main homelessness duty.

Consequently, many people are forced to return to an abusive and potentially life-threatening situation or face the devastating consequences of homelessness. The All Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness (APPGEH) was set up in 2016 in response to growing numbers of people rough sleeping and upward trends in homeless applications in England. We hold regular meetings to discuss the issues which proceed and escalate homelessness and aim to develop the policy solutions which will create lasting change. Since our inception, we have carried out two inquiries into prevention and rapid responses to homelessness.

Our report on prevention focused on groups at particular risk of homelessness, which we identified as care leavers, prison leavers and survivors of domestic abuse. For our second year, we moved on to consider what happens when prevention fails and how to ensure homelessness is ended as quickly as possible. We looked at groups who face significant barriers to exiting homelessness – migrants and young people – and rapid rehousing approaches that can be used to support those with low-level needs to exit homelessness quickly.

This, our third report, builds on our prevention inquiry, taking a closer look at the link between homelessness and domestic abuse and how we tackle this.

There is a clear and well-evidenced link between domestic abuse and homelessness. In 2017, official statistics for England show that 6,850 people were accepted as homeless by their local authority because of a violent relationship breakdown, this accounts for 12% of all homeless acceptances. Crisis’ 2014 Nations Apart research found that 61% of homeless females and 16% of homeless males had experienced violence and/or abuse from a partner.

A third of St Mungo’s clients report that domestic abuse was a direct cause of their homelessness. This timely report looks at how the Government’s Domestic Abuse Bill could break the link between domestic abuse and homelessness by ensuring that people who are homeless as a result of fleeing domestic abuse have the right to access the main homelessness duty under the law. We welcome the drive behind the Bill – to make domestic abuse everyone’s business – and the recognition in the accompanying package of support of the important role of a wide range of agencies in identifying and acting to stop and prevent domestic abuse.

However, given the central role of secure housing in supporting domestic abuse survivors and preventing them falling victim to domestic abuse in the future, we are concerned at the lack of specific recommendations aimed at preventing homelessness among victims of domestic abuse within the Bill. The number one barrier to people leaving abuse is a lack of access to safe, secure housing. As such, it is of upmost importance that the current legislation is amended so every person who is homeless as a direct result of domestic abuse is considered a priority need for settled accommodation.

The Government cannot ensure survivors of domestic abuse are fully protected and supported if the law prevents some from accessing a safe, settled home. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is currently consulting on plans to place a legal duty on councils to provide and fund refuge accommodation. Whilst this is a welcome step forward to ensuring people fleeing domestic abuse have somewhere safe to stay, it falls short of providing the vital protection of long-term, stable housing where survivors can rebuild their lives.

Without a route into move-on accommodation, there is also the risk that people will become stuck in refuges, utilising vital spaces in already stretched services that may be needed by new clients and putting their lives on hold. The vulnerability test presents an unnecessary and inappropriate barrier to survivors accessing settled accommodation. Despite evidence showing that domestic abuse is too often a direct cause of homelessness, only 2% of people accepted as homeless and in priority need were considered to be a priority because they were vulnerable as a result of domestic abuse in 2017.7 People who are not found to be vulnerable enough face the unconscionable choice of returning to an abusive or potentially life-threatening situation, or the devastating consequences of homelessness. Two women are killed each week in England by a partner or ex-partner and the point of separation is when the risk of homicide is highest.

Ensuring there are safe routes into secure housing for people who have experienced or are at risk of domestic abuse and are unable to remain in their home is therefore essential to ensuring survivors of abuse are fully protected and supported. Evidence shows that if survivors are not found to be owed the main homelessness duty of settled accommodation, they are more likely to return to a dangerous situation. Others end up rough sleeping, sofa-surfing or living in unsuitable temporary accommodation where they are at further risk of violence and abuse and are removed from services that would support their recovery.

This report sets out the case for extending priority need to everyone who is homeless as a result of fleeing domestic abuse, as is already the case under the Welsh homelessness legislation. If this change was made, estimates suggest an additional 1,960 households a year could be owed the main homelessness duty. Whilst the amendment would not result in a huge additional burden on local authorities it would have a significant impact on the individuals involved who would no longer face a choice of returning to a dangerous situation or homelessness.

Responding to a report by Crisis and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness, on domestic abuse and homelessness in England, Cllr Simon Blackburn, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said:

“Tackling domestic abuse is an issue which councils take very seriously and they already offer a range of support to protect victims and their families from this horrendous crime.

“The Government’s recent announcement that funding will be provided to place these vital services on a long-term, sustainable footing will help councils in this vital work.

“A multi-agency approach is needed to tackle this crime, with flexibility in the Government’s new package of support to ensure services can be tailored to the needs of different areas.

“However, our ambition must be to reduce the number of victims of domestic abuse, with greater investment in early intervention and prevention schemes that helps stop domestic abuse occurring in the first place.

"Many councils are struggling to cope with rising homelessness and to find suitable accommodation for those in need, which is leading to the increasing use of temporary accommodation.

“If councils are to be truly able to help more domestic abuse victims find suitable housing, councils need to keep 100 per cent of the receipts of any homes they sell to replace them and reinvest in building more of the genuinely affordable homes they desperately need and the ability to adapt welfare reforms.”