Safe housing pledge for home abuse survivors amid ‘nationwide emergency’ warning
Some 4,900 families seeking safety will be helped by the uplift, which comes on top of £480milllion over three years to support women and children in safe accommodation
Survivors of domestic abuse will get more support to rebuild their lives as councils receive a £19million funding boost for safe housing.
Another 4,900 families seeking safety will be helped by the uplift, which comes on top of £480milllion over the next three years to provide women and children with support in safe accommodation. Measures can include access to housing in refuges or confidential locations, or security upgrades such as lock changes and alarms for people staying in their own home.
More than one in ten people who are made homeless or at risk of homelessness were fleeing domestic abuse, according to official figures. Homelessness Minister Alison McGovern said: “No one should have to choose between staying in an unsafe home or facing homelessness.
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“We’re treating violence against women and girls as a national emergency, with a clear commitment to halve it in the next decade. This funding will help local authorities provide safe accommodation and tailored support, including refuges and Sanctuary Schemes, so every survivor can access safety, stability and a fresh start.”
It comes as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood prepares to unveil sweeping reforms to the justice system to tackle violence against women and girls. Speaking yesterday, she said: “One of the depressing conclusions I’ve come to is that the criminal justice system fails women. It fails women who are victims of domestic abuse, of sexual assault, of stalking, all sorts of offences, because we have a postcode lottery.
“Some police forces handle these sorts of cases very well, the investigations are very thorough, they focus on the suspects not on the victims and they put the case in the best possible position to get a conviction later on; and others don’t do it so well, others don’t have specialist trained officers.”
Under the plans, all police forces will be ordered to hire specialist rape and sex offences officers – and new squads of covert online investigators will also be formed to clamp down on online abuse.
Domestic Abuse Protection Orders will be expanded across England and Wales, imposing curfews, electronic tags and exclusion zones on abusers with breaches facing up to 5-years in prison.
A scheme to allow people to request information about their partners previous convictions – known as Clare’s Law – will be widened to cover offences such as stalking and sexual assault. It is named after Clare Wood, who was murdered by her ex-partner, George Appleton, in 2009.
She was unaware that he had had a history of violence against women, including a three year jail term for harassing another woman.
