Domestic abuse pushed Mansfield and Ashfield people into homelessness during pandemic
Domestic abuse pushed Mansfield and Ashfield people into homelessness or put them at risk of losing their homes dozens of times during the coronavirus pandemic, figures reveal.
A spike in such cases nationally has been branded ‘shocking’ by domestic abuse charities, which are calling for more funding to help survivors.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government data shows that, in the year to March, Mansfield Council found 28 households had become homeless, while three needed help to prevent them from losing their home because of domestic abuse.
In total, 31 families needed housing help, because of domestic abuse – 41 fewer than the previous year.
The figures say Ashfield Council found 53 households had become homeless, while 13 needed help to prevent them from losing their home because of domestic abuse – an increase of 15 families from the previous year to 66.
Across England, councils received 31,180 requests for help from households who had lost their accommodation, or were threatened with homelessness due to domestic abuse in 2020-21 – a 17 per cent increase on the year before. Of those, almost half were households with children.
Separate figures from the Office for National Statistics show women are more than twice as likely to be victims of domestic abuse as men.
‘Shocking’
Sophie Francis-Cansfield, policy manager at Women’s Aid, which works against domestic abuse, said: “It’s shocking that, in 2021, women fleeing domestic abuse still face the terrifying prospect of either returning to their perpetrator or facing homelessness.
“We continue to face a shortage of bed spaces in specialist refuge services.”
She said the charity’s research showed women who survive domestic abuse, some pregnant or with children, are still sleeping rough, with black and minoritised women disproportionately affected.
The Government said it was spending an ‘unprecedented’ £750 million on tackling rough sleeping and homelessness.
The MHCLG figures showed a 7.3 per cent drop in families needing support from homelessness services in the year to March.
A MHCLG spokesman said: “We’re ensuring councils provide specialist support, so those who leave their home to escape domestic abuse have somewhere safe to go and we’re backing this with £125m funding – this is alongside a pioneering £3.7m Respite Room trial, providing safe housing and support for victims at risk of sleeping rough.”