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More than 250 social landlords sign pledge to tackle domestic abuse
More than 250 housing organisations have signed up to a campaign to tackle domestic abuse, the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) announced today.
The CIH’s Make a Stand campaign reached 253 supporters, coinciding with Jim Strang, chief executive of Parkhead Housing Association, taking the helm as president of the organisation today.
Mr Strang is set to continue the scheme, which is partnered with Women’s Aid and the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance.
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He said: “My father was an extremely controlling and abusive man – this is an issue I have a really personal connection to and as a result I’m extremely passionate about it.
“Domestic abuse affects so many people and everyone in housing has a responsibility to ask what more we can do.”
Listen to our Housing Podcast episode on domestic abuse:
Alison Inman, who steps down as president today, launched Make a Stand in May.
She said: “The inspiration behind Make a Stand was my feeling that housing organisations could be doing so much more to support people who have experienced domestic abuse.
“The response from the sector has been amazing.”
The campaign asks housing organisations to pledge to put in place four policies by September 2019 (see box below).
Collectively the landlords who signed up so far manage almost 50% of UK social housing, and the CIH is calling for more to sign up.
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
