A Roof, Not A Home: The housing experiences of Black and minoritised women survivors of gender-based violence in London

This report addresses the intersectional housing experiences of Black and minoritised women survivors of gender violence. It draws on the first year of the Women Against Homelessness and Abuse (WAHA) 2-years project funded by Trust for London and jointly run by the Latin American Women’s Aid (LAWA) and the London Black Women’s Project (LBWP) in collaboration with the OYA consortium of by and for specialist Black and minoritised ending VAWG organisations. The research reveals that BME survivors are faced with complex structural barriers to access safe and stable forms of accommodation. They are often at high risk of homelessness and re-victimization at different stages of their journeys of fleeing violence; not only at the point of exiting a violent relationship but also for an extended period thereafter. Their journeys reveal a cycle of victimization that goes beyond the violence perpetrated by their direct abusers; their trauma is furthered by systemic and institutional failures and discrimination in the ways in which public authorities (the police and local housing authorities in particular) deal with their cases of violence.