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Government announces £22m to help domestic abuse survivors

Domestic abuse survivor projects will receive £22m, the housing minister has announced.

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Picture: Getty
Picture: Getty
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Government annouces £22m to help domestic abuse survivors #ukhousing

Government ups funding for projects helping domestic abuse survivors to from £18.8m to £22m #ukhousing

The funding will be shared between 63 projects working with local authorities across the country, and will support more than 25,000 survivors of domestic abuse and their families.

It will go towards providing 2,200 new beds in safe accommodation, access to education, and employment and life skills guidance.

Housing and homelessness minister Heather Wheeler said: “Domestic abuse is a devastating crime, which shatters the lives of survivors and their families.

“It is our duty to ensure survivors can seek help by providing the support they need to restart their lives.

“This fund will make sure local authorities and charities can provide a strong safety net for anyone facing the threat of abuse in their own home.”

One of the charities affected is Refuge, which now plans to expand one of its London services.

Sandra Horley, the charity’s chief executive, said: “That Refuge services will be supported by this fund is hugely welcome news both for us and particularly for the thousands of women and children we support on a daily basis.

“Critically, this funding ensures that many of our refuges will remain open and continue to provide life-saving specialist support to those experiencing domestic abuse.”

Local projects include Portsmouth & Hampshire New Approaches, which will focus on helping people living in refuge accommodation, and on making it easier for people from BAME and LGBT backgrounds to access support; and Norfolk’s Anchor initiative, which will focus on tailored support for individual needs, such as issues around mental health or substance misuse.

The Domestic Abuse Fund, upped to £22m from the originally announced £18.8m, takes place within a wider government push to tackle the problem of domestic violence, such as the planned introduction of a new Domestic Abuse Bill and a three-year violence against women and girls service transformation fund.

It comes as the Chartered Institute of Housing continues to encourage organisations to sign up to its Make a Stand campaign pledging to tackle domestic violence.

Make a Stand

Make a Stand

The ‘Make a Stand’ pledge has been developed by CIH in partnership with Women’s Aid and the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) – made up of Standing Together Against Domestic Violence, Peabody and Gentoo. It was launched under the CIH presidency of Alison Inman in 2018, and then continued by her successor as president Jim Strang.

As of 6 February 2018, 300 organisations had signed up.

As part of the pledge, housing organisations can make four commitments to support people who live and work in housing who are experiencing domestic abuse.

These four commitments are:

* To put in place and embed a policy to support residents who are experiencing domestic abuse

* To make information about national and local domestic abuse support services available on your website and in other places which are easily accessible to residents and staff

* To put in place a HR policy and procedure on domestic abuse, or to incorporate this into an existing policy, to support members of staff who are experiencing domestic abuse

* Appoint a champion in your organisation to own the activity you are doing to support people experiencing domestic abuse

 

 

Click here to read a piece by former CIH president Alison Inman explaining more about the campaign

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