24 Hour Domestic Violence Help-line

Survey of Needs and Provision: Services for Homeless Single People and Couples in England

This report presents the findings of a research project carried out by Homeless Link and Resource Information Service (RIS). The research, funded by Communities and Local Government (CLG) and CRASH1, provides the first clear picture of the extent and nature of key services for homeless single people and couples without dependent children in England, by compiling data from three sources. It analyses existing data about hostels, supported accommodation and day centres from both RIS.s CLG-funded Homeless UK database and the national Supporting People database, and gathers additional information from a survey of service providers.

The statistics published in this research do not include Refuge provision or provision for families with children, however domestic violence is still identified as being a key issue. 

'Victims of domestic violence are present in many services, but 42 (28%) of the homelessness services surveyed have no clients with a history of domestic violence. Looking at day centres alone, only one project reported no clients with a history of domestic violence. Eight were unable to say whether or not they have clients from this background.'

The report recognises that there may be an indication that there is a need for better links between generic and specialist service provision:

'Given that most day centres see victims of domestic violence (only one day centre reported that they had no victims of domestic violence in their service), how well are they linked in with refuges and other specialist provision for this group?'

To access the full report follow this link.  For more local information on housing and homelessness and domestic violence go to the Hostels Liaison Group Website at: http://www.hlg.org.uk/