Housing and Domestic Abuse

Policy into Practice

Yoric Irving-Clarke, Kelly Henderson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781000214413
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

Housing and Domestic Abuse provides an analysis of how housing policy has been historically utilised in responding to domestic abuse. The authors trace the history of policy from the feminist roots of the refuge movement, to the use of 'anti-social behaviour' legislation to address abuse, and the current proposals being considered.

The UK government and devolved governments in Scotland and Wales are currently making significant changes to the ways they address domestic abuse, including involving housing policy in their responses. This book provide details of the differential approaches of the Scottish and Welsh governments and proposes a 'whole housing approach' to addressing abuse. Readers will gain a detailed knowledge of historic, and current policy and practice in this area. They will also benefit from insights from two of the leading scholars in their respective fields of housing and domestic abuse policy and practice.

This book will be of interest to academics, policy makers and practitioners across the fields of housing and domestic abuse policy and practice, as well as students studying social policy more broadly.

Part 1
Putting the book in context

Chapter 1
Introduction

In March 2018, both authors attended a seminar organised by the Department of Criminology at the University and Essex and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) on the role of housing policy in addressing domestic abuse. There were papers from a wide range of academics and practitioners on the various ways that housing policy can and should be used to address abuse. One thing became apparent during the day, there, is much valuable research being done into this, but often in criminology or sociology departments or practitioners, and on individual aspects of the response. There is very little research being done within housing departments or organisations, Henderson (2019) being an honourable exception. This is despite ‘housing’ being a key site of perpetration of abuse, and housing providers, especially social housing providers, being ideally situated to identify and respond to domestic abuse. This book is an attempt to remedy this situation by placing responses to domestic abuse within a ‘housing policy’ context.

Over the last 40 years, there has been increasing awareness of domestic abuse as a social issue (Dobash & Dobash, 1979; Pizzey, 1974; Walby, 2002). It is widely acknowledged that feminists have worked tirelessly to transform domestic abuse from a ‘private matter’ into a social issue which now is to varying degrees on the agenda of local, national and international governments (Hague & Malos, 2005). One of the concerns of the feminist movement in the 1970s was the need for safe, emergency accommodation in recognition that domestic abuse was a legitimate reason for homelessness and that housing was a particular issue to women fleeing domestic abuse (Binney et al, 1981; Mama, 1989). This continues to be an important issue today. Whilst housing is understood to be a key issue for victims, much of the discourse and research has focused on safe, emergency and ultimately temporary accommodation to enable women to leave abusive homes, with little discourse on permanent homes or the role of registered providers in recognising and responding to domestic abuse.

Housing is an important factor in responding to domestic abuse in several ways, for example, at crisis point in providing emergency, safe accommodation, housing providers understanding the signs of abuse; to the impact on feelings of safety, feeling settled and the impact this can have on recovery. Whilst there is now some awareness of the role of housing in responding to domestic abuse, it remains the case that many interventions over recent years have tended to focus primarily on the criminal justice system (CJS). However, as Harne and Radford (2008) point out that the needs of victims of abuse are multi-faceted with only a few of those needs falling into the remit of the CJS; whilst Holder (2001) highlights that legal sanctions alone are not the answer, arguing that the CJS whilst is a resource is not a solution.

Research has consistently shown that housing is a key resource enabling women to end violence from partners and ex-partners, and that a major reason why women stay in or return to violent relationships is lack of access to safe, long-term, independent, affordable accommodation (Charles, 1994; Hague & Malos, 1993; Mooney, 1994; Pahl, 1985). For Dobash and Dobash (1992) housing is crucial,

The importance of housing cannot be overestimated it ranks as one of the crucial factors affecting women’s ability to find viable alternatives to a violent relationship.

(p. 61)

The position of social housing within the welfare state has become increasingly ambiguous over previous decades with an ideological shift from public to private provision and management. The increasing residualisation of social housing defined by Malpass and Murie (1990) has resulted in public housing providing a safety net for those because of poverty, age or infirmity are unable to secure accommodation that is suitable in the private sector meaning that it is often seen as the tenure of last resort. Linking this concept of the ‘tenure of last resort’ to victims of domestic abuse further reduces their “space for action” (Kelly, 2003) and makes it crucial that housing providers are able to recognise and respond to domestic abuse effectively, to support women to stay in their home or move to a new home or place of safety that meets their needs. Women and children feel reluctant at having to move home away from family, schools and other support networks into temporary accommodation and frequently to a new area because of the perpetrator’s behaviour (Abrahams, 2007; Saunders, 1995). Indeed, they often feel a sense of injustice at having to contemplate such a move as a result of their partner’s abusive behaviour (Bossey & Coleman, 2000). This especially impacts upon women who may already face financial barriers meaning that housing choice is an issue of real concern – in some areas, the scarcity of social housing means the possibility of losing or must relinquish a social (secure) housing tenancy to move to place of safety, further compounded by the problem of women fleeing domestic abuse being forced to live in sub-standard temporary or private-rented accommodation (O’Campo et al., 2015). Whilst previous studies (Scottish Women’s Aid, 2015; Solace Women’s Aid, 2014) have primarily focused on women presenting as homeless as a result of domestic abuse and on help seeking, they have not focused specifically on their experiences of support or help seeking from a housing provider.

The current cross-government Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy (VAWG) (Home Office, 2010) and Action Plan (HM Government, 2013) highlighted four key areas of focus to the Government’s cross-cutting response to VAWG; these are on outcomes across prevention, provision, protection and justice. The Plan sets out clear actions for a range of sectors including criminal justice and health, but included none for the housing sector. In fact, the whole of the 27-page document makes only one passing reference to housing, in the context that many victims do not report to police and may want to access support from other sources; including housing. This strongly suggests that the wider role of housing was overlooked at that time with no convergence of the two policy areas. The updated VAWG Strategy (2016–20) (HM Government, 2016) does at least refer to housing as part of the chapter entitled ‘Partnership Working’ (p. 38). Regrettably improved access to housing and an improved recognition and response to domestic abuse by housing providers is still not highlighted as one of the outcomes for 2020 despite over nine million people living in social housing (over 3.9 million households) in England alone (MHCLG, 2017).

The Conservative governments elected in 2015 and 2017 headed by Theresa May as Prime Minister introduced a domestic abuse bill to parliament and made proposals to introduce new funding and strategic planning processes for housing and support for women experiencing abuse. Following a third general election in 2019, the incumbent government (headed by Prime Minister, Boris Johnson) has committed to passing the bill into law (the second reading of the bill was heard in Parliament in May 2020 and is going through the committee stage at the time of writing) and continuing with the changes to the funding and administrative changes (these are both covered in detail later in the book).

It is also true that since the devolution of powers to governments in Wales and Scotland, these countries have pursued very different legislative and policy courses to England, and indeed, to each other. These differences are also covered in detail in a later chapter.

Defining domestic abuse

For clarity, we accept and use the current cross-government definition of domestic violence and abuse. Our focus throughout the book is in relation to intimate partner domestic abuse. The Government defines domestic abuse, controlling behaviour and coercive behaviour as follows:

Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. The abuse can encompass, but is not limited to:

• Psychological
• Physical
• Sexual
• Financial
• Emotional

The current definition defines controlling behaviour as:

Controlling behaviour is a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour.

And coercive behaviour as:

An act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.

Whilst the current definition focuses on a pattern of behaviour, the Government proposes to not limit the definition so that a single incident could prevent action being taken in what appears to be a one-off. The VAWG Strategy (Home Office, 2010) and action plan (HM Government, 2016) establish the gendered nature of domestic violence.

The Domestic Abuse Bill (HM Government, 2019), before Parliament at the time of writing, gives the following definition expected to pass into law during 2020. Domestic abuse is defined as occasions where behaviour by a person (“A”) towards another person (“B”) if:

1. A and B are each aged 16 or over and are ‘personally connected’, and the behaviour is abusive
2. behaviour is “abusive” if it consists of any of the following
3. physical or sexual abuse
4. violent or threatening behaviour
5. controlling or coercive behaviour
6. economic abuse (any behaviour that has a substantial adverse effect on B’s ability to acquire, use or maintain money or other property or obtain goods or services
7. psychological, emotional or other abuse

The bill also makes clear that A’s behaviour may be behaviour ‘towards B’, despite the fact that it consists of conduct directed at another person (for example, B’s child).

For the purposes of the Act, two people are ‘personally connected’ if any of the following applies

1. They are, or have been, married to each other
2. They are, or have been, civil partners of each other
3. They have agreed to marry one another (whether or not the agreement has been terminated)
4. They have entered into a civil partnership agreement (whether or not the agreement has been terminated)
5. They are, or have been, in an intimate personal relationship with each other
6. There is a child in relation to whom they each have a parental relationship
7. They are relatives

Governments in both Scotland and Wales have placed their own definitions within their own legislation – these definitions are given and discussed in a dedicated chapter.

Structure

The book is structured into four parts with several component chapters within each part. Part 1 comprises this introduction to the book and the following chapter setting out a framework the analysis of policy herein.

Part 2 comprises three parts looking at the histories of (social) housing policy and the history of refuge provision from the early feminist model of refuges and then the changes wrought to the sector by the policies of various governments from the 1970s to the present day. These chapters are intended to provide both a narrative of the development of the sector and context to the third part of the book.

Part 3 covers the several aspects of housing policy that affect people experiencing abuse, the differential policies relating to domestic abuse in Scotland and Wales and current proposals for housing and domestic abuse. The book closes by detailing several sector responses to the issue of domestic...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Part 1 Putting the book in context
• Part 2 The history of housing domestic abuse policy in Great Britain
• Part 3 Domestic abuse and wider housing policy issues
• Part 4 Industry responses
• Appendix 1: Useful resources and information
• Index