Whole Housing Approach

Read here: WHA Economic Abuse

This toolkit explores economic abuse in depth. Economic abuse is often a cause of housing instability for victim/survivors of domestic abuse, so it’s important that anyone considering implementing the Whole Housing Approach has a solid grasp of economic abuse and how it can affect victim/survivors living in different housing tenures.

Economic abuse resources

• Resources for victim/survivors experiencing economic abuse.
• Resources for professionals, including domestic abuse support services and bank and building societies.

Read here: WHA Refuge services

Refuge services are a lifesaving service for women and children fleeing domestic abuse. This toolkit is a reference guide for local authorities, commissioners and partnerships. It offers practical guidance for commissioning and funding quality, safe and specialist refuge services and aims to support the delivery of the new duties proposed by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on funding support for victims and their children in accommodation based domestic abuse services, which includes refuge.

Refuge resources

• Home Office, Violence Against Women and Girls Services: Supporting Local Commissioning, December 2016.
• Home Office, Violence Against Women and Girls Services: National Statement of Expectations, December 2016.
• Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, Improving Access to Social Housing for Victims of Domestic Abuse, November 2018.
• Imkaan Accredited Quality Standards and Safe Minimum Practice Standards.
• VAWG Sector Shared Core Standards.
• Women’s Aid’s Domestic Abuse Report series, which brings together the most comprehensive set of data on domestic abuse - including refuge provision - in the country.
• Women’s Aid, National Quality Standards.

Read here: WHA Social Housing

This toolkit is a reference guide for professionals working in the social housing sector including local authority housing solutions services, housing management, registered providers (housing associations), domestic abuse services and for victim/survivors to describe what they can expect from their local authority’s housing service. 

See the DAHA accreditation chapter below for a framework created especially for social housing providers and services to develop and embed good practice for an effective organisational and coordinated community response to domestic abuse.

Read here: WHA Private Rented Sector

This toolkit highlights the challenges that victim/survivors experience in private tenancies and considers initiatives and offers guidance for engaging landlords and professionals working in the private rented sector (PRS) at a national and local level.

It is a reference guide for professionals working in the PRS including landlord professional bodies, local authorities (community safety teams, environmental health, private housing teams), private landlords and letting agents.

It is also a guide for specialist domestic abuse services who are ideally placed to be the lead service for delivering the initiatives set out this guide.

Private Rented Sector resources

• Supporting survivors living in the PRS - Guidance for DA Practitioners 
• Domestic Abuse Guidance for PRS landlords
• Example Domestic Abuse Policy For PRS Landlords Developed with RLA
• Covid-19 Domestic Abuse Guidance for PRS Landlords
• DA Factsheet for Letting Agents

Read here: WHA Privately Owned Housing

This toolkit highlights the challenges faced by victim/survivors living in privately owned housing (POH) and offers guidance for working with professionals in the POH sector at a national and local level. It may also be of interest to other stakeholders who are key to meeting the needs of homeowners experiencing domestic abuse, including estate agents, sales teams, family and property lawyers, family courts, mortgage advisers, mortgage lenders such as banks and building societies, regulatory bodies and policy makers.

Privately Owned Housing Resources: 

• Staying on the property ladder (if you are not married) - Surviving Economic Abuse 2021 
• Accessing legal support - Surviving Economic Abuse 2021

Read here: WHA Supported Housing - Homelessness Services

This toolkit sets out the role of supported and sheltered housing in providing accommodation for victim/survivors of domestic abuse. It particularly focuses on homelessness accommodation settings including shelters or hostels and supported housing. It offers guidance for housing providers and commissioners who are working to improve their response to domestic abuse in these settings and in line with Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) standards.

Supported Housing/Homelessness services resources

• The guidance: ‘Keeping us Safer’: An approach to supporting homeless women experiencing multiple disadvantage
• The Safety by Experience research summary: ‘Women’s experiences’
• With their permission, the video of St Mungo’s clients Claire and Paula discussing their experiences.

Read here: WHA Mobile Advocacy

Mobile advocacy is a form of community-based domestic abuse advocacy support that has a focus on getting survivors into stable housing as quickly as possible. This role is like other types of community-based, specialist domestic abuse provision such as resettlement, outreach or floating support.

This toolkit is a guide for commissioners, operational managers, domestic abuse practitioners and/or coordinators and any other stakeholders involved in funding local domestic service provision. It offers practical guidance and resources to set up a mobile advocacy service and assess the quality of existing services. 

Mobile advocacy resources

This component of the Whole Housing Approach is inspired by the work of Professor Cris Sullivan and her colleagues at the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WSCADV). The following resources have been developed by the WSCADV and are part of their Domestic Violence Housing First approach and toolkit,

• WSCADV toolkit for implementing mobile advocacy
• Home visits, advocacy safety protocol

Read here: WHA Co-located Housing Advocacy

Co-located housing advocates are employed by a specialist domestic abuse services and are usually based within local authority homelessness support services. They support victim/survivors who approach the local authority as homeless, and upskill local authority staff.

This toolkit is a guide for commissioners, operational managers, domestic abuse practitioners and/or coordinators and any other stakeholders involved in funding local domestic service provision. It offers practical guidance and resources to set up a co-located advocacy service in a local authority housing service and for assessing the quality of existing services. This toolkit can also be used as a reference for co-locating in another housing service such as a housing association or supported accommodation setting.

Read here: WHA Flexible Funding

Flexible funding is a designated funding pot that domestic abuse support workers can access quickly and easily to enable victim/survivors to achieve safe and stable housing.

The purpose of this toolkit is to provide guidance and materials to help organisations set up flexible funding in their area. It is intended for commissioners and service providers, including domestic abuse services, housing providers, and local authorities.

Flexible Funding resources

This component of the Whole Housing Approach is inspired by the work of Professor Cris Sullivan and her colleagues at the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WSCADV). Flexible funding gives domestic abuse advocates / mobile advocates a tool to help survivors into stable housing as quickly as possible.

Read here: WHA Housing First For Women

This toolkit is a reference guide for local authorities, housing providers and specialist domestic abuse services who are interested in setting up a Housing First project for women experiencing homelessness and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). It includes key considerations and practical resources for planning, implementation and monitoring quality and effectiveness of a Housing First project.

Housing First For Women resources

• Housing First England - Housing First Principles
• Example PowerPoint presentation – for Housing Providers.
• Housing First SLA.
• Nominations form.
• Example Job description and person specification.
• Housing First worker induction schedule.
• Westminster VAWG Housing First Project receives commendation from the 2021 London Homelessness Awards

Read here: WHA Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance

This toolkit is for housing providers and services, domestic abuse services and local commissioners. It provides an overview of the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance’s (DAHA) accreditation process and offers guidance and resources for housing professionals to plan and implement DAHA accreditation across the organisation as part of the Whole Housing Approach (WHA). Obtaining accreditation not only enhances how housing providers interact with victim/survivors, it also strengthens the local area’s coordinated community response to domestic abuse.

If you’d like to find out more or are interested in signing up for accreditation, please contact daha_team@standingtogether.org.uk

Read here: WHA Managed Reciprocals

A managed housing reciprocal scheme enables individuals and families who are at risk of domestic abuse or violence and who have a social tenancy, to move to a safe area whilst retaining their tenancy. It is a formal collaboration between social housing providers that is coordinated by an independent agency.

This toolkit is a reference guide for local authorities, housing providers and specialist domestic abuse services who are interested in setting up a managed housing reciprocal scheme to support social tenants who need to relocate due to domestic abuse. It includes key considerations and practical resources for planning and implementation, as well as guidance on how to monitor the quality and effectiveness of a managed housing reciprocal scheme.

Managed reciprocals resources

• Report launch: Pan-London Housing Reciprocal, Three Years On
• Pan-London Housing Reciprocal
• Example Job Description Reciprocal Coordinator
• Template Memorandum of Understanding agreement
• Template database log including monitoring/activity tables
• Template Property Request Form
• Case study: Sarah’s story
• Referral Process Example Flowchart (Cambridgeshire)
• Safer London Webinar March 2021: Whole Housing Approach - Managed Reciprocals
• Safer London Webinar March 2021: Pan - London Housing Reciprocal (PowerPoint Slides)
• Safer London Webinar March 2021: Managed Reciprocal Model (PowerPoint Slides) 
• Safer London Webinar March 2021: Cambridgeshire Housing Reciprocal (PowerPoint Slides) 
• Managed Reciprocals - FAQs 

Read here: WHA Sanctuary Scheme

This toolkit is a guide for commissioners, operational managers, domestic abuse practitioners and/or coordinators, security installers and any other stakeholders involved in funding and delivering a local Sanctuary Scheme.  It offers practical guidance and resources to assist local areas and service providers to assess the quality of an existing scheme or establish a new scheme where none currently exist.

Sanctuary Scheme Resources

• Sanctuary scheme exemption from the removal of the spare room subsidy: DWP information which advises that where a survivor is in a social tenancy and their home has been fitted with Sanctuary measures, the survivor will be exempt from the removal of the spare room subsidy (the bedroom tax). This means that their housing benefit/housing element of UC would not be reduced due to them having a spare room

Read here: WHA Perpetrator Management

The purpose of this toolkit is to outline the options available to housing providers in engaging with perpetrators and holding them to account. The safety of victim/survivors is central to working with perpetrators. The aim of working with perpetrators is to keep victim/survivors including children safe. Housing providers, therefore, need to check how their intervention is impacting on safety. If the victim/survivor is not involved, it is not possible to do this. 

Perpetrator management resources

• Taking action against perpetrators checklist
• MATAC diagram
• Working Effectively with Perpetrators and Survivors of Domestic Abuse in Homelessness Settings (Standing Together & Single Homelessness Project)
• Accommodation for Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse Discussion Paper – April 2021

There is an urgent need for Move On Accommodation from refuge services and other types of unsafe accommodation that victim/survivors may be living in.  Refuge providers report significant challenges in resettling victim/survivors (the majority of whom are women) including their children when they are ready to move on. This leads to bed blocking, which prevents other women and children being able to access a refuge space when they need it. Demand already outstrips supply when it comes to refuge spaces. In 2018-19, Women’s Aid England reported a 30% shortfall in the number of refuge spaces required and 64% of referrals turned away.

Move On Accommodation a type of accommodation included in the Government’s definition of Safe Accommodation, which local authorities now have a duty to deliver as part of the Domestic Abuse Act (Part 4) that achieved royal assent on 29^th April 2021.

The following report written by Women’s Aid Federation of England and DAHA is based on a project funded by the Home Office to investigate whether there is a need for a national mechanism to ‘link up’ refuge services and housing providers to improve the move-on process and, if so, how it would work. It includes considerations and recommendations that may be useful for Tier 1 Boards and local authorities to support their planning and delivery of Safe Accommodation Support (Part 4 of the DA Act).

Improving the move-on pathway for survivors in refuge services: A recommendations report

The Government’s Move On Fund aims to free up refuge spaces by increasing the availability of affordable move-on housing for rent to support victim/survivors of domestic abuse currently living refuges. The fund in England (outside London) is managed and delivered by Homes England. And in London is managed and delivered by the Greater London Authority (GLA). It includes both capital grant funding and revenue funding for on-going tenancy support costs. An ideal partnership will include a Registered Provider developing new or refurbishing existing units and a dedicated domestic abuse service accredited by Imkaan or Women’s Aid England delivering the housing management and support services.

Further information about this fund can be found here - Move on Fund 

A toolkit for Move On Accommodation is in development and will be uploaded as soon as it’s available.