Housing interventions to address domestic violence

Gina Netto School of the Built Environment

Heriot Watt University, EdinburghMay 2008

Stopping Domestic Violence: What Works?28th to 30th May 2008, Waterford Institute of Technology

Introduction

This paper will:• Place housing interventions related to DV in the

context of the homelessness prevention agenda and the gendered nature of homelessness

• Appraise policy responses for– women who stay at home – women who leave home

• Consider the issues faced by survivors of DV• Identify good practice and what remains to be

done to inform practice in the field

Homelessness and DV

• DV is recognised as a major contributory factor of homelessness

• Definition of DV in Housing Act 1996:– Violence from a person with whom he is associated or threats of

violence from such as person which are likely to be carried out– Violence is interpreted as extending beyond physical violence to

include threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional)

• Recognised that while both men and women may be victims, women more likely to:– suffer repeat victimisation– be inflicted with physical injury and emotional harm– Be responsible for dependent children

Rights to housing

• Right to housing is an essential part of citizenship in certain countries

• General Comment 4 of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the UN states that right to housing should not be narrowly defined: includes ‘right to live in peace, security and dignity’

• In the UK, local authorities have a statutory duty to provide assistance to families and other defined groups who are not intentionally homeless

Homelessness prevention agenda

• Legislative drivers– Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977: local authorities

expected to prevent as well as respond to homelessness

– Homelessness Act 2002: local authorities encouraged to:

• Become more pro-active in tackling homelessness• Produce homelessness strategies for people who are

homeless and at risk of becoming homeless• Develop initiatives which deal with different scenarios

which might place an individual at risk of losing his/her accommodation, including DV

Rationale for investment in homelessness prevention

• More than a roof acknowledges the wider impacts of homelessness beyond loss of shelter: loss of social ties, impacts on education, training and entry into employment, emotional trauma

• Homelessness Prevention defined as: ‘activities that enable a household to remain in their current home, where appropriate, or that provide options to enable a planned and timely move and help to sustain independent living’ (ODPM, 2003)

• Recognition of cost effective benefits of investing in homelessness prevention, local authorities encouraged to ‘spend to save’

Housing interventions to prevent homelessness

• Three stages where local government can intervene to prevent homelessness– Early intervention: where those at risk are identified

and services provided to prevent problems from escalating

– Pre-crisis intervention: eg advice services to prevent loss of home, planning before institutional discharge

– Preventing recurring homelessness: extends beyond rehousing to ensure sustainability of tenancy (ODPM, 2003)

• In cases of DV, there are particular challenges around early intervention and pre-crisis intervention

Challenges for early intervention in the case of DV (1)

• Research suggests that leaving home is usually the last resort

• Often, leaving home is crisis-driven and unplanned

• Policy options, until recently, were limited

• Research suggests that, in practice, survivors continue to face considerable difficulties

Challenges in preventing homelessness: the scale of DV (2)

• Relationship breakdown - main cause of homelessness for about a fifth of hhlds assessed ‘homeless & in priority need’ in England

• About two thirds of these cases (13% of all homelessness acceptances) involve DV

• 220 local authority homelessness strategies (62% of total) contained proposals for addressing homelessness due to DV

Households assessed as 'homeless & in priority need' in England - breakdown by

'reason for homelessness'

11 13 14 16 17 18 18 17 16 15 14 13 13 13 13 13

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Relationship breakdow n - violent

Relationship breakdow n - non-violent

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Challenges in preventing homelessness due to DV (3)

• Recognised that estimates of women’s homelessness are under-estimated due to hidden nature of such homelessness

• Women often stay with friends or go directly to refuges and apply to council housing register

Challenges in preventing homelessness due to DV (4)

• Residualisation of social housing:– RtB– Lack of new build– Transfer of housing stock from local

authorities to housing associations

• Challenge lies in reconciling the safety of survivors with shortages in accommodation

Housing support and DV: Past Current

• DV traditionally seen as an issue belonging to the private realm

• Traditional forms of support: – Tended to be reactive,

crisis-driven– Provision of temporary

accommodation, refuge provision

• Refuge provision • Support with

remaining at home– ‘Sanctuary schemes’– Legal measures for

removing perpetrators

• Assistance with planned moves from homes

• Resettlement support

Housing support now

• Underpinned by recognition that – Often victims will leave home in an emergency

situation (refuges always needed) – BUT more effort is invested in favour of women

leaving home in a planned and safe way

• Recognition of some women’s choice to remain at home, where perpetrator has been excluded

• Recognition of the need for ongoing support after women have been rehoused

Local authority assistance

• Local authority has a duty to assist if women:– Are unintentionally homeless– Are in priority need– Are eligible

• Women will be considered to be in priority need if they are:– Pregnant– Have dependent children– Are vulnerable due to mental illness or disability– Are homeless as a result of emergency, flood fire or disaster

• Suggests that single women (with no dependent children) may NOT be viewed as being in priority need

• Assistance can take the form of advice and/or provision of temporary and permanent accommodation

Support for women who wish to remain at home (1)

• Needs to be underpinned by greater understanding of why women would choose to remain at home

• No single definition of home, associated with:– Material conditions– Privacy– Space– Safety, Control– Stability– Choice– Self-expression– Leisure– Physical and emotional well-being– Acceptable standards can vary (Watson and Austerberry,

1986)

Gendered nature of vulnerability to homelessness

• Gendered place of women in the home/family– Men are still primary wage earner in the

majority of cases; – Men favoured as tenant or mortgager (though

practice is changing)– Female dependency on men for access to

housing and housing security; women more vulnerable to homelessness than men (Watson and Austenberry, 1986)

Women’s role in the home

Support for women who remain at home (2)

• Loss of home means far more than loss of shelter and access to key services, also results in personal loss of control, privacy

• Good practice messages for local authority housing officer and others offering assistance:– Understanding and non-judgemental response– Believing the applicant and not asking for proof of

violence– Ensuring safety of survivors– Maintaining confidentiality

Support for women who remain at home: legal measures (3)

• Application for occupation orders which decide who will live in the home– Temporary measure (abt 6 months) which excludes

abuser from the home– Court has power to order abuser to pay rent,

mortgage or other outgoings– Allows victim to consider other options

• Transfer of tenancy: where tenancy is shared, victims can apply for transfer to their name under Part IV Schedule 7 of the Family Law

Supporting for women staying at home: Sanctuary schemes (4)

• Involves provision of security measures and adaptations to help women remain in their own homes, where perpetrator has been excluded

• May take the form of a ‘safe room’, or panic buttons to alert local police

• Can be undertaken either on a permanent basis or as a temporary measure until planned move can be made

Support for women who remain at home (5)

• Under-researched area, possibly due to difficulties in negotiating access to women

• Some evidence of the cost effectiveness of sanctuary schemes in terms of reducing homelessness acceptances by local authorities

• Not known how effective legal measures and sanctuary schemes are in enabling women to remain at home

Preventing homelessness among women leaving home (1)

Women’s issues

• Lack of respect, not being taken seriously, stigma of DV: ‘’Your battles are just beginning’ ‘You feel penalised for leaving your partner

• Words often used to describe contact with agencies: ‘demoralising’, ‘emotionally draining’

Good practice messages

• Believing, respectful and non-judgemental service

• Holistic approach, with explanation of all options and exploration of risks

• Timely and pro-active intervention (esp at initial stages on making contact/leaving violent relationship)

Support for women leaving home (2)

Women’s issues • Lack of awareness of sources

of support• Need for wide ranging support:

from police, solicitors, advice agencies, financial support etc

‘it was very overwhelming…where do

I go? Who do I see?’ ‘It was like being sent from pillar to post’

• Need ‘for one stop service’

Good practice• Need for widespread targeted

dissemination of sources of support

• Multi-agency domestic fora• Strategy for preventing

homelessness due to DV

– Common terminology– information sharing– Understanding of roles of

different agencies– Specialist support and

trained staff

Preventing homelessness among women leaving home (3)

Women’s issues

• Need for safety, security and stability

• Need to make transition to independent living

• Need for continued support– Accessing benefits– Access to

training/employment

Good practice• Early intervention• Timely support to enable

planned move• Appropriate temporary

and permanent accommodation for families

• Outreach services and information provision

• Tenancy sustainment services

Issues faced by minority ethnic women (4)

• Different forms of domestic violence, including threat of ‘forced’ marriage (not arranged marriages)

• In some cases, lack of support from members of family due to distance of family members or acceptance of violence

• Lack of knowledge of sources of support; lack of fluency in English

• Among women who have been living in the UK for a year, ‘no recourse to public funds’

• Lack of appropriate refuge provision: isolation, fear of harassment

• Lack of appropriate permanent accommodation (Davis, 2005; Netto et al, 2004)

Issues faced by disabled women in leaving home (5)

• Lack of appropriate refuge accommodation for those with physical difficulties

• Lack of support for women with mental health problems

• Reluctance to leave adapted homes

• Additional difficulties in leaving home (Davis, 2005)

Good practice: assessing local authority performance (6)

• BVPi 225 sets a standard for all district and unitary councils to aim for

• Consists of 11 indicators to assess local authority effectiveness of services to help survivors of DV

• Key areas included:– Setting up of a multi-agency strategy– Establishment of a DV fora– Local DV coordinator to be employed– Directory of local services– Actions on homelessness prevention and tenancy

sustainment

Barriers to good practice

• Shortage of accommodation• Lack of statistical data at local authority level• Poor coordination and communication among

relevant agencies• Lack of specialist trained staff

Women generally had little control over where they were re-housed (Davis, 2005); women from minority ethnic backgrounds had even less choice

Impacts of post-2002 ‘homelessness prevention’ drive

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Relationshipbreakdown - non-violent

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Source: Communities & Local Government website

Conclusions

– Major shifts in the form of housing interventions for women facing DV in the UK; evidence of reduction of homelessness acceptances

– Current policy is to widen options for survivors of domestic abuse who either choose to remain at home or choose to leave

– Lack of evaluative research in the area of the comparative effectiveness of various housing options

– Some clear indicators of what would constitute good practice in terms of offering what women value, early intervention and multi-agency working

– Long way to go before housing provision can meet housing and associated requirements for survivors of DV

– Policies and practice needs to be underpinned by greater understanding of the gendered nature of women’s position in the home and greater vulnerability to homelessness

References• Davis, C (2005) Domestic violence and housing in the Eastern region:

summary report. University of Salford: Salford

• Levison, D. and Harwin, N (2000) Reducing domestic violence…what works? Accommodation provision; Home Office: London

• Netto, G (2006) Vulnerability to homelessness: use of services and

homelessness prevention in Black and Minority ethnic communities. Housing Studies, Vol 21 No 4 581- 602

• Pawson, H, Netto, G and Jones, C (2006) Homelessness prevention: a guide to good practice; DCLG: London http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/homelessnessprevention

• Watson, S and Austerberry (1986) Housing and homelessness: a feminist perspective; Routledge and Regan Paul: London