Getting involved with the Women’s Housing Forum

The Forum started with a small group of women in the social housing sector who were determined to address the structural inequalities faced by women when trying to access suitable housing. Now, we have a wide network of people interested in working together to raise awareness of, and address, women’s housing needs.

The WHF has achieved the following:

• Established a website in collaboration with organizations like DAHA (Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance) and Homeless Link, which do important work aligned with our vision.

• Held events and spoken at various forums to highlight women’s housing needs. Our conference last year was particularly memorable. We collaborate with organizations like the NHF (National Housing Federation), CIH (Chartered Institute of Housing), and others to raise awareness.

• Our research, "Women, Money and Housing," developed in partnership with the NHF, contributed to the Women’s Budget Group report "A Home of Her Own: Women and Housing." We co-hosted the launch in Parliament.

• We've used print and social media to further raise awareness. A recent highlight was our appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.

We aspire to do much more.

We aim to commission research that considers women’s inequality and housing from an intersectional perspective. There's a lack of research in this area, and we're eager to build on this to provide evidence to support policymaking.

We want to share best practices and foster collaboration across the sector. With more resources, we could provide more information and events for the sector, raising awareness of existing and emerging issues and identifying opportunities for partnership working. For instance, we advocate for all Housing Associations to offer more permanent move-on accommodation to smaller supported housing providers to help more women in emergency situations.

To achieve our vision, we're transitioning to a membership model. This will formalize arrangements with our supporters and provide some infrastructure support for the Forum. Membership fees and donations will also help cover travel expenses for tenants on low incomes to attend meetings and events.

Following discussions at our inaugural conference in 2019, we've decided that individual membership will be free, although we encourage those who can, to make a donation.

Organisational membership fees will be on a sliding scale, as follows:

• Under £1m turnover - £100 pa

• Between £1m and £10m - £250 pa

• Between £10m and £50m - £500 pa

• Above £50m - £1,000 pa

We hope you share our passion for these issues, and we look forward to you joining us in addressing these inequalities. Complete the membership form below to become part of the WHF.

Best wishes

Tracey Downie and Zaiba Qureshi
Co-Chairs of the Women’s Housing Forum