This briefing document provides a short overview of some of the key points raised by both speakers and guests in the February 2023 London Specialist Advice Forum.

Overview of the Domestic Abuse and Housing Project (full report from PILC here)

• The domestic abuse and housing project started when Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) were referred a “one off” case to support a survivor with application for higher band on the housing register.
• PILC decided to speak to Solace Women’s Aid on the general issues women were facing in this area and it became clear that the case was emblematic of a broader pattern, and that women fleeing violence are subject to unlawful treatment and discrimination by Local Authorities when requesting housing at the housing office.
• There was concern that domestic abuse survivors can’t access housing support.
• The purpose of the project was to advise frontline staff on the law to take on individual complex cases and try and make wider social change through strategic litigation challenges to change unlawful practices and policies.
• .Funding cuts to Local Authorities have reduced money from central government by 63%, so although legislation like    the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 is trying to help domestic abuse survivors, this cannot resolve  the shortage of housing and related systematic gatekeeping. .

Findings and real-life consequences

• Emergency accommodation was often refused, and the legal threshold is low, one third of participants were not accommodated with emergency accommodation.
• Really long delays; 3/4 of survivors who participated in this project experienced delays with their applications for housing, with some waiting for months or even years for housing. 
• Unsuitable accommodation; 2/3 of participants were accommodated in unsuitable accommodations including housing that was overcrowded, located in unsafe areas, or far from support networks.
• 1/4 of participants required the interventions of a lawyer to get their Local Authority to provide housing support (which was then provided).
• The real-life consequences of this gatekeeping can be extremely grave, especially in cases of domestic abuse.
• The impact of Local Authority gatekeeping is that it can be the difference between life and death, safety and danger, and housing and street homelessness.

Campaign: Abused Twice

• This campaign was about highlighting the reasons why many domestic abuse survivors can’t access housing as they are experiencing gatekeeping by Local Authorities.
• The campaign was an urgent call for the government to tackle systematic and unlawful gatekeeping.
• In this case, gatekeeping is defined as the placing of bureaucratic obstacles of those receiving statutory support.
• In domestic abuse cases this can include demanding police cases to prove an incident has happened or for survivors to prove recent incidences have happened – if not the person can’t be housed. With that evidence, the survivor finds a gate has been placed in their way. 
• With the research it became clear that it was not just a few cases, after 4 years of this project; this type of gatekeeping is systematic in London. 
• This is evident with the witness statements collected from domestic abuse survivors in each of the 32 London Boroughs – in each statement the same obstacles arrived indicating a deeply rooted chronic problem.

Next Steps

• PILC considered legal action against the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and Mayor of London in judicially reviewing DLUHC for an independent review.
• Government response included writing to Local Authorities to remind them of their statutory duties and responsibilities - this is the same outcome that a JR would recommend.
• Work on this continues – you can find out more here.