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Grateful To Be In A Place Of Safety: Gemma’s Story 

WOMEN IN SAFE HOMES FUND SOCIAL IMPACT REPORT 2023/24

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I Am Now Able To Live A Life Free Of Abuse And Harm: Elsa’s Story

Many women escaping domestic abuse are in housing crisis: 70% of domestic abuse survivors have a housing need.[1] However there’s a real need for better support services for women - only 50% of women survivors of domestic abuse who wanted to access community-based support services were able to. [2] The Women in Safe Homes fund is supporting these women by partnering with expert housing providers like Sheffield Women’s Aid (SWA), which celebrates 50 years of supporting vulnerable women this September. One of these women is Gemma*.  

Gemma was living in a communal refuge; she had moved there after fleeing her former partner because she had experienced physical and emotional abuse.  Unfortunately, Gemma’s story is a reality many women have to face: 1.4m women – that's one in four - experienced domestic abuse in 2023. [3] Although Gemma was extremely grateful to be in a place of safety, the abuse she had experienced had left her with extremely high levels of anxiety and she struggled to be around all but her closest family and friends. This meant she found living within a communal refuge with shared spaces more challenging.   

Moving to a new stand-alone property gave Gemma a space of her own - a house with a secure garden which was only for her to access. Gemma felt more at ease and less worried about having to be in shared areas where she felt very uncomfortable. She had a space where she could meet with her trusted family and friends, which was not possible in a communal refuge. Gemma has continued to work with a dedicated domestic abuse practitioner and is beginning to make plans to move forward, find her own long-term accommodation and make choices about her future. 

SWA is supporting Gemma and other women in providing safe and secure homes, which supports them in gaining independence, recovering from their trauma and empowering them to make plans for the future. SWA began a partnership with the Women in Safe Homes fund in early 2023. So far, the fund has purchased 5 out of the 11 properties it’s buying for SWA. Two properties are now housing two women and two children so far. Janet Goodinson, Head of Operations at SWA, speaks to the work the housing partner is doing as part of the fund. “The properties have made an incredible difference and given us a wider choice of accommodation to suit the differing needs of the people who need our services.  In Sheffield, domestic abuse is persistently one of the top three reasons for homelessness. Through the increased properties secured through the Women in Safe Homes fund, we can meet the obvious demand that is there for survivors, coupled with our experience as a specialist domestic abuse charity, a trauma-informed environment is enabled to assist recovery for women and children.”

About the Women in Safe Homes fund

The Women in Safe Homes fund is a gender-lens impact investment property fund helping address the housing crisis for women escaping domestic abuse, leaving the criminal justice system without a home to go to and at risk of or experiencing homelessness. It was launched in December 2020 as a joint venture of Resonance and Patron Capital because there is a chronic shortage of safe, decent and affordable housing for women at risk of and experiencing homelessness. 

In 2023, 1.4 million women in the UK experienced domestic abuse, one of the leading causes of women’s homelessness, with 70% of survivors having a housing need. 

The fund raised £29m from over twenty impact investors and has now closed, focusing on deployment, and has so far purchased 78 properties for its eight housing partners. So far, over 350 women and children have been housed by the fund.

Read the fund’s latest social impact report here  

*Name changed 

NOTES

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[1] https://www.womensaid.org.uk/who-is-missing-in-the-data-what-the-available-data-on-domestic-abuse-does-and-doesnt-tell-us-about-womens-experiences/

[2] https://refuge.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Spring-Budget-Joint-Letter-from-DA-VAWG-sector.pdf

[3] https://www.womensaid.org.uk/who-is-missing-in-the-data-what-the-available-data-on-domestic-abuse-does-and-doesnt-tell-us-about-womens-experiences/

Louise Swinden

Property Fund Manager

Resonance Limited is a company registered in England and Wales no. 04418625

Resonance Impact Investment Limited, a subsidiary of Resonance Limited, is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Firm number 588462.

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