We need safer, more stable homes for victims of domestic violence

Homes and what happens in them profoundly affects those who grow up and those who live in them.

That is why domestic violence is both such an emotive issue for politicians to talk about, and why politicians often shy away from a conversation about what happens in the domestic environment. But to do so is a complete abdication of responsibility. This is what happened in Barnet Council last week when I delivered a speech on this issue last week – subject to heckles, not only did my political opponents fail to listen to interested charities and wish to stop me from speaking in the first place, they didn’t want me to be heard when I went ahead and spoke on the campaign and on the petition anyway.

Our approach to domestic violence should be as follows. The victim’s safety should be the first priority. He or she has the right to remain in her own home. He or she has the right to be recognised as one of the most vulnerable persons in our society and a person to whom we owe a particular duty because of the traumas they have been subject to – there is no place in a decent and humane society for violence against another person within the context of a relationship.  The stability and security of the housing that we give victims and survivors says a lot about our ability to understand their experience.

I say this because the best way to understand the merits or otherwise of any policy is to work out where we should be and consider how far away we are from that.

Barnet Council are currently planning  to require domestic violence victims to register as homeless before placing them into accommodation. This will have the effect of placing them into longer term, temporary accommodation (bed and breakfast) rather than in the much preferred stable housing offered through social housing.

It’s not just the outcomes that follow from this policy that are damaging; it is the message we are sending about status of those who are affected by it. Imposing yet another gateway between victims of domestic violence and their hopes for a better future is simply cruel.

The cruelty of this process lies in its inflexibility. There should be no ‘one size fits all’ approach to housing victims of domestic violence. Each individual situation needs to be considered on its own merits and housing policy at a local level should free housing officers to focus on what is best for the victim in consultation with them. This matters, not just for better outcomes but if we want to put into practice what we so often talk about – empowering victims – so that they become survivors; able to rebuild their own homes

For this to happen housing officers need to have genuine freedom on this crucial issue, homes need to be available. We need to address the wider issue of housing supply and in particular the availability of those homes for those most in need. We are seeing the impact of a reduction in the availability of social housing at its sharpest end. When then-local MP Margaret Thatcher said that she thought there was no such thing as society and sold off social housing without ring-fencing the proceeds for further investment in housing – was she asked to consider the impact upon domestic violence survivors? Probably not.

There is no acknowledgement from the Conservative-led council administration that this broader challenge is having this trickle-down effect. Why would there be? It is much easier to defend the failure to build enough homes than it is to defend the failure to house the most vulnerable and defenceless in our society.

I am proud that we in the Labour Party are taking key steps to make tackling violence against women a key priority in the next General Election and beyond – appointing a Violence Against Women minister and working with stakeholders such as EVAW (‘End Violence Against Women’), Imkaan and Women’s Aid to open up a dialogue about these issues. It was heartening to see so many of those organisations at National Women’s Conference last weekend.

I look forward to continuing the conversation about how we can best secure safer, more stable homes for both male and female victims of domestic violence in the next year and beyond. In the meantime, do sign the petition to join me in support of a better, inclusive and more empowering approach to tackling domestic violence.

Reema Patel is a Labour councillor for Coppetts ward