Domestic homicide: what can housing learn when the worst happens?

Staff should be able to ask questions sensitively, be aware of what support is available both internally and externally, and the organisation should have the proper policies and reporting mechanisms in place for staff members who are concerned about a tenant. This should not only be for housing officers, but across all staff who interact with residents. 

“It’s often gas safety contractors or repair guys who see something, so it’s really important they have very clear pathways for reporting these things,” says Ms Ellis, who provides training on a tool called the Domestic Homicide Timeline. “They need to have that freedom to say, ‘This is what I saw’, without any fear of criticism of sticking your nose in, or being fearful that they got the wrong end of the stick. It’s better to report it and be wrong, than not to report it at all.” 

The domestic homicide timeline, Ms Ellis says, is a very useful framework for professionals trying to tackle domestic abuse, including in housing. Based on analysis of hundreds of intimate partner homicide cases, the timeline sets out eight psychological stages of a perpetrator, which lead to homicide.

The timeline begins with the perpetrator’s pre-relationship history of abuse, into a fast-developing relationship and the beginning of the coercive control. After a trigger threatens the control, there is an escalation, which can then move to planning and carrying out a homicide. 

Click here to read our explainer on the Domestic Homicide Timeline.

The police and other services may not see the victim until stage three or even stage four of this timeline, when the relationship is dominated by abuse and control, Ms Ellis explains. “But housing professionals have a unique position because they can get in right at stage one, which most professionals can’t.” 

Pre-tenancy checks and knowledge of local households may give professionals that vital insight. 

Understanding this timeline is also crucial, says Dr Henderson, because it also teaches housing providers that when the victim has been separated from the perpetrator, it does not mean that the risk has passed.

“You might think, ‘Oh great, someone’s had a management move. Job done,’ and then we are kind of easing off the gas because we think, ‘Now they’ve left that abusive person, they should be really safe,’” she says. “But in fact that is when the danger is really high because that is when it moves to the escalation and homicidal ideation stage.”

Training staff to better understand domestic abuse only goes so far. The domestic homicide reviews also demonstrate the need for strong communication and information-sharing within the housing provider, such as between the anti-social behaviour, arrears and eviction teams. More than a third of the cases Inside Housing analysed cite this as a learning. 

Often, domestic abuse victims are not recognised as such, explains Louisa Steele, multiple disadvantage and homelessness programme manager at Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse. “They’re not really seen as survivors – they’re seen as addicts, they’re seen as problems. They’re not really seen as credible victims.” 

Such was the case of Marie, whose story opened this article. The domestic homicide review said: “There was not enough professional curiosity in relation to Marie.” Marie was flagged to housing services multiple times as needing financial assistance.

In the summer of 2016, a housing officer visited the property and raised concerns that Marie did not have any gas and did not have a cooker or washing machine. The officer accepted Marie’s explanations that she was using the local laundrette and eating sandwiches and fast food. Later that summer, an ambulance was called to Marie’s home for an accidental overdose.  

When Marie applied for a housing transfer, despite previously disclosing that she was a victim of domestic violence, the landlord did not make the connection that her current relationship was with the same man who had been charged with abuse against her a few years before. Lee’s criminal convictions were not noted, which would have caused more consideration of his tenancy application. 

When complaints were made against the couple around drugs and anti-social behaviour, the review found that “she [Marie] was treated as a perpetrator of anti-social behaviour, rather than being considered a victim of domestic abuse”.  

According to the review, in the years following Marie’s murder, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council’s housing and communities directorate started a rolling training programme to assist frontline housing staff to recognise the signs of domestic abuse. In June 2019, the housing and communities directorate achieved accreditation with DAHA. Sandwell Council did not respond to Inside Housing’s request for comment.

“I’ve worked on a couple of reviews where anti-social behaviour has been seen, but actually it’s been domestic abuse,” says Ms Henry-Leach of Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse. “Why have those rent arrears accrued, is there economic abuse? It’s important that we start picking up those subtle dynamics.” 

A crucial element of this is in record-keeping, Ms Henry-Leach states, making sure that all case notes are thorough and avoid assumptions or stigmatising. “It’s about making sure it’s clear and avoiding language that can impact on how somebody else who’s picking up that case a few weeks later will perceive that victim,” she explains.

“So rather than, ‘Victim not willing to engage’, flip that narrative to ‘She felt unable’ and that could, in my professional opinion, be a result of coercive control’.” 

Click here to Metropolitan Thames Valley’s interview about going through a domestic homicide review.

Amber’s story

Amber died by suicide in September 2021, following abuse by her partner in the homeless accommodation where they both lived.

Amber’s father told the review into her death: “Amber was a free spirit and loved all music… from classical to drum and bass. She always had aspirations… she talked about wanting a career in clothes and fashion design.”

The review by the Safer Somerset Partnership looked at whether a multi-agency approach could have recognised the risk to her life.

Click here to read Inside Housing’s analysis of Amber’s story.

ForHousing has recently achieved the DAHA accreditation, which is a structured process designed to improve landlords’ responses to domestic abuse. Mr Hague says the accreditation process “found that we were active participants in safeguarding and multi-agency information-sharing forums, and have strong links with external partners”.

“We’ve got eyes and ears in our properties, which would be really beneficial for other partners,” says Dr Henderson, co-founder of DAHA. “But often [housing] is only brought to the table when it’s a crisis point when, actually, this has been going on for a year.” 

She adds that housing providers have a responsibility to proactively connect with other agencies to explain their role and the contribution they can make. “We’ve got a job to do, to get out to the partners to say, ‘This is the difference we can make.’”

Experts say organisations should also think about other factors that might affect how a victim or perpetrator interacts with their service, such as ethnicity, nationality, LGBTQ+ identity, age or disability. 

Inside Housing’s analysis found that in one in seven of the domestic homicide reviews, the victim was Black, Asian or from a minority ethnic background, including Eastern European. A number of cases also featured fears around immigration control or struggles with a language barrier. In a fifth of cases, the victim was part of another marginalised demographic, such as being disabled or LGBTQ+. 

Twelve per cent of the learnings for the housing sector specifically related to the victim or perpetrator’s marginalised identity. 

For example, Dianne*, a woman in her 70s, presented to Scarborough Council in 2018 as needing help with re-housing due to a breakdown in the relationship with her “friend” Margaret, with whom she held a joint tenancy. Mixed records about the fact that Margaret was Dianne’s partner meant the case was not identified as domestic abuse. 

Scarborough Council no longer exists, so Inside Housing reached out to newly formed North Yorkshire Council, which said it is working towards the DAHA accreditation. 

Domestic abuse policies and processes must allow for the way people with different identities and backgrounds might experience domestic abuse in different ways and experience different barriers when seeking support. Staff must also be mindful of the ways in which unconscious bias might affect their interactions with domestic abuse victims. 

“We should all, as professionals, be responsible to identify abuse or the potential of abuse occurring,” says Ms Henry-Leach. “You need an open mindset to think about, ‘Is this potentially abuse?’ And then if it could be, ‘How do I have that sensitive conversation?’” 

*Domestic homicide reviews usually use pseudonyms for the people involved in the case to ensure confidentiality. Inside Housing has used the same names, as these are often chosen by the victim’s family. In the case of Dianne, Dianne is the victim’s real name, used in the review as specifically requested by her family, as they felt strongly that they would like her to be remembered. 

The perpetrator is identified by a pseudonym. In the case of Marie, the perpetrator was merely referred to in the review as ‘the perpetrator’, so Inside Housing assigned the pseudonym ‘Lee’ to avoid confusion.