We are delighted to publish the Women in Safe Homes fund’s second Social Impact Report which highlights the progress the fund is making in relation to women accessing its homes, its housing partners and wider systemic change during its second year (April 2021 to March 2022).

Key milestones this year include:

• Purchasing its first 29 properties in three regions across the UK
• Handing over a number of these properties to housing partners who have started to house women and their children, providing them with a safe place to call home
• Appointing an all-women senior board of advisors, a first for an impact investment fund with a gender-lens homelessness focus
• Partnering with new housing provider partners, including Stop Domestic Abuse and Ella’s
• Increasing the number of investors to over 19, including The Church of England who made its first ever social impact investment into the fund
• Raising £28.2 million of its £100 million target, and continuing to fundraise in order to achieve its aim of providing 650+ homes for 6,000 women and children.

Sadly, during this reporting period the UK’s housing crisis continued to worsen, exasperated by the pandemic, along with the circumstances and experiences that leave women at risk of homelessness. This includes women experiencing domestic abuse and leaving the criminal justice without a safe place to go to, two of the leading causes of women’s homelessness. For women experiencing either – or both – a safe women-only space to call home alongside specialist support services to help them recover from abusive or challenging circumstances, is key in tackling the UK’s gendered housing crisis.

• 1.6 million women experienced domestic abuse in 2020/21 
• 60% of homeless people living in temporary accommodation are women 
• 65% of women leave prison without safe and sustainable accommodation 
• 61.9% of all domestic abuse referrals to refuges are rejected 
• 22% increase in women supported by the national domestic abuse helpline following the pandemic 

Having started to house a small number of women and their children during this reporting period, we are delighted that in this report we have included the stories of three of the first women to be housed by the fund, Farhana, Selima and Kim.

The different circumstances and experiences that led to all three women facing housing crisis due to the lack of suitable housing options available to them, powerfully demonstrates the critical need for decent, safe and affordable homes for women and the difference their homes are already making to their lives.

One support worker said: “Kim is extremely happy with being in safe accommodation and has already made big steps in making her life and that of her child better, saying “Wow! this place is really lovely!” She would like to become a paramedic in the future and wants to look at university courses for this, now that she has a secure base.”

The fund continues to fundraise, acquire more properties, hand these to its housing partners and provide women with not only a safe and stable home but also specialised, wraparound support enabling them to overcome trauma and to become empowered to start creating lives of their choosing.

Download the the Women in Safe Homes fund's report and read about the impact it's already having:

Download the report