Today, November 25th, is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls. In February 2023, the Home Secretary included violence against women and girls (VAWG) within the official national threats to public safety. This means that the national policing response to violence against women and girls should be on a par with terrorism and serious organised crime. This is an appropriate response to the levels of violence seen in the UK, where a woman is killed by a man every three days. Yet often, the majority of violence remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, societal stigma and shame surrounding it. 

The UN’s #NoExcuse campaign emphasises that there is no justification for violence against women and girls, and calls for urgent investments to help stop it. The UN reports that data on how much nations are committing to stop violence against women and girls remains glaringly sparse. One way to counteract this is through more investment in women’s organisations. Resonance and Patron Capital’s Women in Safe Homes fund, believed to be the world’s first gender-lens property fund, is working hard to do so. The fund works with expert housing partners and women’s sector organisations to provide safe, stable housing for women and children who need it. So far, the fund is proud to have housed 183 women and 80 children, all of whom had been facing housing crisis. One of those women is Amara*. 

“I grew up with my family but had to flee to a refuge after being raped due to honour-based violence. I have not had any contact with my family since then,” says Amara. “About two years ago I met my ex-partner, and he persuaded me to move in with him which meant I gave up my tenancy. The control started not long after that then escalated to physical abuse. I had to flee again.” 

Leaving an abusive partner is a courageous first step towards freedom. Amara was placed in a new home by Harlow-based organisation Safer Places, one of the fund’s expert housing providers which has been supporting people experiencing domestic abuse across Essex and Hertfordshire for over 45 years. “It was welcoming as soon as I walked through the front door,” says Amara of her new home. “It felt homely. It has given me freedom and safety.” 

Safer Places predominantly provide crisis refuge accommodation and support to women in high-risk situations who are likely to present with poor mental health and experiences of trauma related to domestic violence and other forms of VAWG. For Amara, this home has given her the time, space and safety to begin making decisions about the future. “It has helped me to be able to concentrate on the things that matter - having time to be able to process information without the fear of making a wrong decision. There has not been any pressure on me, so I have been able to take time in thinking about options that are available to me. I have had weekly support sessions and have worked on my mental health with their support. We have also looked at college courses and volunteering options. My plans for the future are looking for full-time work and to expand my friends. I am completely safe now and have made friends with others through the groups who understand what it is like having to leave everything behind.” 

Women like Amara who have experienced VAWG are being safely housed by the fund and its partners. Today is a chance to amplify the message that there is #NoExcuse for violence against women and girls. Funds like the Women in Safe Homes fund are aligned with the UN’s mission to increase investment in women’s sector organisations, with the long-term goal of eradicating violence against women and girls.  

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 nine housing partners. So far, over 350 women and children have been housed by the fund.

*Name changed  

Read the latest social impact report here