Domestic violence victim and two kids left in single refuge room for two years despite threats of violence towards them

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

A mum and her two children were left to live in a single room in a refuge for two years while a town hall dealt with their homelessness application.

Lewisham council told the unnamed woman she would be moved down the housing waiting list if she left, even after another woman in the refuge threatened to hit one of her children.

The woman said she didn’t eat properly for 24 months because residents weren’t allowed to store food in the fridge in the house’s communal kitchen.

Her family had to share a bathroom with other women in the refuge, some of whom were addicted to drugs and alcohol.

The case was revealed in a report by legal charity Public Interest Law Centre [PILC] into housing for domestic abuse victims across London.

The victim told the PILC: “In that refuge environment, there was no space. You couldn’t escape. Maybe if we had been there for one month, two maybe even three it would have been fine. But being there for nearly two years with nowhere to go, it really affected me.

“It was women only, and there were about 15 of us there. There were women there with a lot of alcohol issues, and drug issues. A woman there actually threatened to hit my child and nothing was actioned. I didn’t feel safe there.

“The kitchens were shared, so I basically didn’t eat for two years because you couldn’t keep stuff in the shared fridge. […] The bath was really dirty there, so we never used that bath. You couldn’t be happy or healthy in a place like that.”

The woman and her two children were finally given a new house after she rang Lewisham council everyday for weeks at a time, demanding to be moved. She also contacted her local MP, pleading for help.

While victims of domestic abuse have a legal right to emergency accommodation and secure long-term housing, many people can’t receive help because of barriers put in their way by councils, the PILC report published on September 23 warned.

It said councils across the capital had put more obstacles in the way of support over the last decade, as a result of austerity and a lack of social housing in London.

Lewisham council said it was giving staff extra training to make sure they were equipped to deal with domestic abuse victims.

A Lewisham council spokesperson said: “We are committed to supporting survivors of domestic abuse, with our Domestic Abuse and Violence against Women and Girls Strategy setting out action in a range of areas to tackle domestic abuse, support survivors and hold abusers to account.”

Pictured top: Lewisham council headquarters in Catford (Picture: Google Street View)