Webinar: Housing First for Couples

Single Homeless Project (SHP), Solace Women’s Aid, and Commonweal Housing have outlined a new Housing First model for homeless couples, specifically those in which domestic abuse is suspected or known to occur. 

This study – developed in partnership between SHP and Solace and funded by Commonweal –  aims to mitigate risks for survivors, while ensuring that both survivors and perpetrators can access stable housing, healthcare and specialist support. 

The model provides survivors and perpetrators with separate, but concurrent, independent housing and wrap-around support, delivered by a specialist multi-disciplinary team. This approach recognises the voices of survivors, and addresses the complex challenge of providing housing and support for couples when the survivor is unable or unwilling to accept housing separately.  

Survivors interviewed for the research shared their experience:  

“It was either they help him or help me - and that’s what put us off accepting the help, that they were trying to separate us.” Survivor 

“I think it would have helped if they would have worked with us together, but also separately – it was the way they dealt with us, that made me keep running back to him, and him keep running back to me, because we could never both get housed at the same time.” Survivor 

The report outlines nine key principles for safe and effective service delivery, emphasising the survivor’s choice, autonomy and safety as priorities. It also focuses on the perpetrators - addressing their unmet needs while ensuring they are held accountable for their behaviour. The webinar linked above explains how these principles would function in practice. 

To highlight the need for a specific service for couples, the feasibility study includes data collected from 19 of the 33 London Councils. As of March 2024, 167 couples slept rough in the last year, with domestic abuse known or suspected in up to 73% of these cases. These figures almost certainly underestimate the true numbers. 

SHP and partners will implement these findings by delivering a Housing First service with a couples specialism funded by SHAPs – Homes England’s Single Homeless Accommodation Programme. This service, commissioned by Camden Council, is set to commence from April 2025. 

Commonweal is pleased to have supported this feasibility study, and looks forward to seeing the project up and running soon.