A shocking 40% of women experiencing homelessness state domestic abuse is a contributory factor to their homelessness.

Every year, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls invites us to confront a truth many already know too well: safety is not only the absence of violence — it is the presence of a secure home, compassionate support and the dignity of being believed, protected and housed.

In England and Wales, an estimated 1.6 million women experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2024. For many, the moment they flee an abusive partner is the moment they step into homelessness. And when housing systems are overstretched or not trauma-informed, those who need the most help often struggle the hardest to access it.

For organisations like Resonance, working alongside housing and support providers, these figures represent real lives: women, mothers and children whose futures hinge on the safety and stability that housing can create.

Domestic abuse, homelessness and mental health: a dangerous loop

Domestic abuse is a legally recognised cause of priority need within homelessness legislation, yet survivors regularly encounter systems that are inconsistent, complex and slow to respond. Government data shows that domestic abuse remains one of the leading reasons families lose their home.

The psychological impact compounds these pressures. According to Refuge, women who experience domestic abuse are twice as likely to experience depression. Many experience anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or acute stress when navigating homelessness pathways. This deteriorating mental health often becomes a barrier to sustaining temporary accommodation or engaging with local authority processes, creating a vicious loop where trauma and housing insecurity reinforce one another.

Breaking this cycle requires housing solutions designed around survivors’ needs for settled, safe housing and support.

How system pressures fail women with complex needs

Survivors with prolonged trauma histories, mental health challenges, disabilities, debt, substance use or prison experience are often labelled ‘hard to house’. This can mean:

• fewer or unsuitable housing offers
• higher thresholds and gatekeeping
• being required to ‘prove stability’ before being granted the housing they need to become stable

A growing body of research highlights these barriers, including Shelter’s Fobbed Off report, which documents how women experiencing domestic abuse are routinely denied or discouraged from accessing homelessness support.

A trauma-informed system would do the opposite: prioritising complexity instead of avoiding it, and recognising that vulnerability should accelerate access to housing, not block it.

This is why Resonance’s Women in Safe Homes Fund – our joint venture with Patron Capital - has actively partnered with charities and foundations to address the complexities while acknowledging the sensitivities and uniqueness of individual experiences by providing safe, settled housing and support for female survivors of domestic abuse, as well as prison leavers and women who have been exploited.

Hidden inequalities

Inequalities within the housing system are not experienced evenly. Certain groups of women — including LGBTQ+ women and women with children — face additional layers of risk, hidden homelessness and systemic barriers that compound the trauma of abuse. These include:

Mothers and children

Domestic abuse is one of the most significant safeguarding issues affecting children in England. Analysis by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner shows that domestic abuse is the most common factor in children being assessed as “in need” by local authorities.

When mothers are not enabled to secure safe housing promptly, they face an impossible choice: remain with an abuser or risk homelessness with their children. Both carry long-term consequences. Conversely, when families access safe supported accommodation, stability returns quickly, routines are restored and trauma begins to heal.

LGBT+ women

For LGBTQ+ women, domestic abuse and homelessness are often under-reported and poorly understood. Stonewall’s research shows that more than one in ten LGBTQ+ people have experienced domestic abuse and nearly one in five have experienced homelessness.

And Research by Galop, a UK LGBTQ+ anti-violence charity, highlights barriers including discrimination, lack of recognition of same-sex relationship abuse, and limited inclusive housing pathways. As a result, many LGBTQ+ women resort to sofa surfing or unsafe short-term arrangements — forms of hidden homelessness that rarely appear in official data.

Addressing these inequalities requires inclusive, specialist-trained housing services and dedicated LGBTQ+ pathways within supported housing settings.

Housing that saves lives — and saves public money

There is a persistent misconception that specialist supported housing for survivors is expensive. In reality, the evidence indicates the opposite.

Significantly, Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse has demonstrated the value of integrated housing responses in practice. An independent evaluation of their Whole Housing Approach pilot with Cheshire East Council found:

• a saving of over £10 for every £1 invested in public expenditure
• 98% of survivors at risk of homelessness remained safely housed
• stronger partnership working between housing teams, landlords and domestic-abuse specialists
• increased staff confidence in identifying and responding to domestic abuse

The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) highlights that effective homelessness prevention is a life-saving intervention, requiring integrated partnership between housing, health, social care, police and voluntary-sector organisations.

The evaluation demonstrates that trauma-informed, multi-agency housing solutions not only save lives — they save money.

Towards survivor-led housing

Although a complex issue and one entrenched in decades of inequality, there is a pathway out of systemic barriers facing survivors of domestic abuse. A housing system that truly supports the elimination of violence and other abuse against women and girls would:

• expand investment in supported housing
• place survivor voice and safety at the centre of all housing decisions
• integrate health, housing and social care
• invest in removing barriers for women with complex needs
• ensure specialist provision for LGBT+ women, mothers and other groups facing additional inequalities

At Resonance, we see housing not as an endpoint but as the foundation for recovery, autonomy, dignity and hope. Working with commissioners, domestic abuse charities and housing providers, we can contribute to a system where no woman is forced to choose between danger and homelessness.

Not just on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls but every day, the message is clear: safe housing saves lives — and it is time UK systems reflected that.