Domestic abuse & housing

Domestic abuse leads to homelessness: 12% (6,820) of 56,580 households accepted as homeless in England in 2017/18 lost their home due to the violent breakdown of a former relationship (Source: MHCLG, Table 773: Reason for acceptance. Households accepted by local authorities as owed a main homelessness duty by priority need category, England.)

Women are more likely to experience repetitive and more frequent domestic abuse and high-risk violence compared to men, with women around twice as likely to have experienced domestic abuse than men (7.9% compared with 4.2%). This equates to an estimated 1.3 million female victims and 695,000 male victims. There were a total of 1,198,094 domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales. Of these, 598,545 (50%) were incidents not subsequently recorded as a crime. (Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2018.)

On average, victims ask for help 5 times before they get an effective response. This means that victims are trying to reach out and get support, but it is the system that is failing them. It takes women experiencing domestic violence an average of 2.3 years until they seek help. In one survey, 30% of women returned to their abusive partner due to lack of adequate housing. (Source: SafeLives (2015), Getting it right first time: policy report. Bristol: SafeLives. Source: Leaving ≠ moving: Housing patterns of women who have left an abusive partner. Violence Against Women. 2012.)

Over 4 out of 5 victims (83%) of partner abuse did not report the abuse to the police, illustrating that this is not an issue that can be solved by the police alone. Many of the stats we see are just tip of iceberg. Women may be in regular contact with a whole host of professionals/community who can help spot it and support her before crisis point. (Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2018.)