Housing for Women

What we do...

We house women who are eligible for general social housing and also those at risk of violence. Our priorities are to provide the best service possible to our existing tenants and to grow and develop to meet the housing needs of women in London.

We provide safe and secure family accommodation for women with children, flats for single women and hostel accommodation for those women rejecting domestic violence. We manage properties throughout London and domestic violence refuges in west London.   Much of our work is done in partnership with other housing associations and voluntary organisations so that we can offer high quality homes for women in areas where they are needed.  We also maintain good working relationships with the local authorities in the boroughs in which we operate.

As well as general housing we are championing some special projects which address the particular needs of women in London – these include domestic violence hostels and accommodation for women who have been trafficked for prostitution and illegal working.

On a slightly lighter but no less important note we are working with the Older Women’s Cohousing group – a group of older women who wish to live together as a small community. They will manage their blocks of flats themselves and maintain a waiting list for all women who wish to join them.

To help us proviide better services for our existing tenants, some of whom have grown old with the Association, in 2009 we will be employing a worker to provide help and support to our older tenants and to ensure that their housing needs are met. The worker will also act as a liaison and an advocate for older tenants.

Some of the issues facing vulnerable women and the projects that we are currently involved with:

In Britain two women are murdered each week by their partner or ex partner and one incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute. The children of families affected by domestic violence are more likely to be involved in crime and anti-social behaviour.

Housing for Women manages its own hostels and gives support to other refuge providers. We also give rights to other agencies combatting domestic violence to nominate their clients to our housing when the client is ready to move-on into general housing.

When women are sent to prison they often lose their homes and their children are taken into care and when such women are released they are then considered to be single as they do not have their kids with them and so are unable to get housing. This leads to a vicious cycle where women struggle to get their kids back but cannot because they do not have a home. The children of offenders often become offenders themselves as they do not have a stable family life.

Through the Re-unite project we are putting women in family homes immediately and helping them get their children back as soon as possible.

Women who have brought into this country from outside the European Union and then forced into working as prostitutes are completely vulnerable. The minute that the police close down a brothel where forced prostitution takes place, the women who have been kidnapped to work there have no where to go. They are illegal immigrants with no rights or status in Britain and they are usually extremely damaged by their experiences. There are only a handful of safe bedspaces for them in a tiny number of safe houses which fill up very quickly.

We are offering ten flats to women from these refuges who are able to become more independent and we then give them support while they rebuild their lives.