Housing associations should fight harder to end the abuse of women

When I worked for Women’s Aid I met a mother who had escaped war in Sudan. She’d seen people killed and she had been raped. She came to the UK for safety – only to be forced to flee her home with her two children when her husband became abusive.

The housing association said they couldn’t evict her husband because they had a joint tenancy, so she was forced into a refuge. She had to take her children out of school and leave her job. Despite this, she was an incredibly strong, supportive presence for her children and the other women in the refuge. Her children always had a cooked meal and they had a tutor as well as tennis lessons. She was also very supportive of other women in the refuge, giving them a shoulder to cry on.

Then one day she didn’t come out of her room. I found her repeating weird statements and realised she’d had a psychotic breakdown. Everything had boiled up inside her until she broke her.

I had no choice but to have her sectioned. That was the worst moment in my professional and personal life. I still remember how she gripped my arm as I left her in the hospital. I felt I had betrayed her.

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I hoped I’d never have to experience anything like it again, but sadly, I have seen similar things since. I was appointed Viridian Housing’s first ever domestic abuse project officer in 2014, and I’ve used experiences such as these to make vital changes to the way the housing association tackles domestic violence, including encouraging women to take single tenancies, even if they are moving into a property with a partner.

Changing procedure

Housing associations and other affiliated agencies have been letting down women who have experienced domestic violence. A lack of real understanding of domestic violence means women are sometimes interrogated in open spaces about traumatic experiences, even in front of their children. Others simply slip through the gaps and only surface when their situation has become high risk.

Housing associations have an important role in the fight against domestic violence but they’re often left out of the conversation. This doesn’t make sense. Which other organisations get such unfettered access to a person’s home?

It doesn’t only mean changing procedure – one of the biggest challenges for me has been to change attitudes. When I joined Viridian, I realised that a lack of real awareness among both colleagues and other residents meant that women affected weren’t being identified early enough.

When residents heard shouting they saw it purely as a nuisance and reported it as anti-social behaviour. Meanwhile, repeat repair requests weren’t being connected to domestic violence (we later found that 95% of these cases were a direct consequence of violence in the home). Another issue was that some staff who did witness abusive behaviour weren’t sure what to do. There was often still a pervading feeling that domestic abuse was a private matter.

To solve this, Viridian’s domestic abuse service became integrated with multiple departments within the association – including housing officers, maintenance and financial inclusion. All those with direct customer contact were trained to spot the signs of domestic abuse. Issues such as rent arrears, noise nuisance and repeat repairs are now all flagged to the anti-social behaviour team to investigate.

Changing perceptions of domestic violence

When I joined Viridian two years ago, only 25% of the domestic violence cases we tackled were first reported from within the organisation; today, it’s 75%. The dramatic increase has come from getting people to look at the situation in a different way.

I remember one young woman who was well known to Viridian. She was 22, with two very young children, and in a long-term relationship with a known gang member. When he visited the house, he caused havoc. Her case had initially been treated as anti-social behaviour, as neighbours complained of loud music and shouting.

Many had found her difficult to deal with because she was forthright and argumentative. When I met her I realised she was actually an intelligent woman who was terrified of having her children taken away. She had been entrenched in an abusive relationship for years and had played loud music so the neighbours wouldn’t hear the physical violence.

The key was to work with her to find a solution. It meant getting the right people around the table, including the police, health visitor and the neighbours. A protection order was put in place to give police the power to arrest her partner if he came to the house. The neighbours’ attitudes changed – now many called the police when they saw him coming, instead of complaining about the noise.

We also worked to secure the property and damage caused by the abuse was quickly repaired. The young woman was given a device that calls the police when shaken.

The best solution would have been to move her, but many women who have experienced domestic violence find thisdifficult. It’s about building confidence and trust; initially, they can’t trust anyone – even themselves. Eventually we were able to move the woman and her children from the home because she believed it was the right thing to do.

Coping with a surge in need

We also launched a year-long domestic violence awareness campaign, which included open days, and we added information about support to rent statements and to articles in a residents’ magazine. We have subsequently seen a 300% surge in cases – but no victim has gone homeless. We have also managed to reduce the time it takes to tackle the problem from 14 months, to an average of seven and a half weeks.

We’ve done this through a combination of rehousing using our own social housing stock, working with local authorities to exercise homelessness legislation to protect victims, and putting reciprocal arrangements in place with other housing providers.

We have also made our existing properties safer by installing security devices and we are taking a stronger stance against the perpetrators of domestic violence – we have pursued restraining orders, non-molestation orders and imposed acceptable behaviour contracts.

There are some incredibly rewarding moments when you work in domestic violence services, but there are low points, too. The lowest points come when you’ve worked hard to get a victim to trust you, they’re on the road to rebuilding their life, but they’re let down by another agency in the chain. They become disillusioned and it’s back to square one. But we’re working to change this and we’ll keep going.

We all need to work better together, to educate and empower our colleagues to spot and act when they are faced with domestic abuse, and help people build better and safer lives.

Aisha Sharif is the domestic abuse project officer for Viridian Housing.

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