Domestic Violence Mini-site
Parliamentary Questions
Bob Spink (Castle Point): To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what the status is of women who are living in a women's refuge in order to escape violence or abuse in respect of (a) homelessness and (b) council housing waiting lists; and if he will make a statement. . [182724]
Mr Hope: A woman living in a women's refuge in order to escape violence or abuse would be statutorily homeless if it was not reasonable for her to continue to live in the refuge and she had no other suitable accommodation available for her occupation which she had a legal right to occupy.
The Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities, to which local housing authorities in England must have regard by law, states that women's refuges are intended to provide very short term accommodation and should not be regarded as reasonable to continue to occupy in the medium and longer term. Housing authorities should recognise that placing an applicant in a refuge will generally be a temporary expedient only, and a prolonged stay could block a bed space that was urgently needed by someone else at risk. Refuges should be used to provide accommodation for the minimum period necessary before alternative suitable accommodation is secured elsewhere.
She would be entitled to make an application for an allocation of accommodation to any housing authority and if she was considered to be homeless by that authority should be given reasonable preference for an allocation under the authority's allocation scheme.
Last update: Tuesday, October 17, 2006