CIH responds to the publication of the government’s ‘Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy’

The government has released its strategy to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG): 'Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy’. It outlines a breadth of measures across ministerial briefs including support for survivors, action against perpetrators and changes to the criminal justice system. It sets a national target to halve violence against women and girls in a decade and calls on all of society to engage with this call.   

Housing-related announcements include:  

• £499 million over the next three years for the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Duty which includes £19 million of new funding for safe accommodation and domestic abuse support to go to councils to provide safe housing for domestic abuse survivors
• Action to explore how tools of economic abuse, such as the role of joint mortgages
• A ministerial-chaired Domestic Abuse Housing Group to provide national oversight, greater consistency, and quality of delivery
• Within the monitoring framework, support will include measures such as new social housing tenancies for those leaving their last home due to domestic abuse
• The Safe Accommodation Duty will be included in the work to change the commissioning landscape, to drive greater consistency and quality of delivery across the country. 

CIH have welcomed the government's publication of the strategy. Chloe Fletcher, CIH's head of policy and external affairs said: “The strategy rightly outlines that access to safe and secure housing is a critical foundation for the safety, recovery and independence of survivors of domestic abuse. 

“The funding uplifts announced are positive steps towards ensuring that local authorities and other support organisations have the resources to adequately and appropriately tackle this issue. This additional £19 million is a welcome cash injection, which accompanies the £480 million confirmed for local government budgets to provide support in safe accommodation. We would welcome clarity on whether these allocations will be ringfenced or not to alleviate concerns of diversion to other elements of homelessness prevention due to mounting pressures on councils."

Chloe continued, adding that: "We are also encouraged that the government is exploring how victims of economic abuse can be better supported, as outlined in CIH’s recent work on housing-related debt rules which impact domestic abuse survivors. 

"We are pleased to see that further refuge accommodation will be funded, however without increased access to truly affordable homes, either via the uplifting of Local Housing Allowances to help access the private rented sector or better access to social housing, many survivors will remain stuck in refuge accommodation and places will not be able to be freed up for those in need of immediate safety.   

“It is positive that there is a ‘whole-government’ approach to tackling this issue, as it is vital that holistic and wrap-around support is provided at every level to support survivors of domestic abuse. Everyone has the right to live in a safe home, and we are committed to supporting the sector in their role in this through the Make a Stand pledge.”