CIH welcomes cross-party support for amendment protecting domestic abuse survivors’ access to social housing 

The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) welcomes the strong support shown in the House of Lords last night for an amendment to the Social Housing Bill tabled by Baroness Neate. 

The amendment, which is supported by CIH, King’s College London and Shared Health Foundation, would ensure that survivors of domestic abuse are not denied access to social housing because of housing-related debt incurred as a direct consequence of abuse. 

A safe and secure home is the foundation for rebuilding lives recovering from domestic abuse. This amendment would address a significant barrier identified by Professor Katherine Brickell and Dr Mel Nowicki in their research for Debt Trap Nation, which highlighted how housing-related debt provisions within local authority allocation policies can prevent survivors from accessing the safe housing they need. 

CIH, alongside many organisations across the housing and domestic abuse sectors, strongly supports the provisions already included in the Bill to help survivors remain in their homes and retain their social housing tenancies. These measures represent important progress on an issue that survivors, campaigners and housing providers have worked for many years to address. 

Baroness Neate’s amendment builds on this progress by ensuring that survivors are not further disadvantaged by debts that arose through coercion, control or financial abuse. As Baroness Neate told the House: "The Bill as it stands is already life-changing for survivors. It takes important steps towards shifting the system so that it is on the side of the survivor, not the perpetrator. My amendment is one more step in the same direction, which I believe would strengthen the Bill still further." 

The need for action is clear. In a single month in 2023, more than 1,500 children across England were denied access to secure housing because of local authority housing-related debt rules. Many child victims of domestic abuse are living in temporary accommodation, which has been linked to compounded trauma and poorer health outcomes, including higher rates of child mortality. Delays in helping survivors move into permanent social housing can also prevent refuge spaces from becoming available for others fleeing abuse. 

CIH believes that legislating now, rather than waiting for a future opportunity to amend statutory guidance, would provide the certainty, consistency and urgency that this issue demands. Embedding these protections in law would ensure that survivors receive the support they need without unnecessary delay. 

The amendment has attracted support from across the political spectrum, including former Prime Minister Baroness May, who said: "I hope that the Government are going to look favourably on the amendment ... given the knowledge we now have of the forms that domestic abuse can take and the greater understanding we have of the circumstances in which people can be left that are nothing to do with their behaviour, but purely because they have been the victim of a perpetrator." 

CIH urges the Government to support this amendment and take this opportunity to strengthen the Bill further, ensuring that no survivor of domestic abuse is prevented from accessing a safe home because of debts arising from the abuse they have experienced. 

You can watch back the parliamentary recording here Parliamentlive.tv - House of Lords