Housing crisis forcing abuse victims back to thugs they f led
GREATER numbers of women and children living in domestic violence refuges are being forced to return home to their abusive partners, as they cannot find alternative housing, a charity has said.
Saoirse Domestic Violence Services (SDVS) said the delay in women leaving its refuges is at its worst since the charity started in 2006.
Figures from the charity show that, last year, 74% of requests for refuge could not be accommodated as its refuges were full.
Due to the lack of accommodation options for women, the average length of stay in a domestic violence refuge was 41 days, compared to 21 days in 2019.
SDVS chief executive Allison Graham said 75 families used the refuge last year.
The group also fears that women are reluctant to leave their abusive homes because they feel they will have nowhere to go long-term.
‘There was always a struggle with women and children moving on from refuge because it’s short-term crisis accommodation in terms of getting them out of immediate danger,’ Ms Graham told the Irish Daily Mail.
‘So, there was always a challenge with them getting more long-term housing options. But the last year has seen a particular challenge.
‘There are just no options. More than ever, more and more women are leaving refuge and going back home to the perpetrator because there are no other options.’
‘We have women staying with us for months upon months in refuge, which isn’t ideal at all, and having nowhere to go after that because there’s no private rentals. There’s just nothing out there.
‘They can’t even get onto a local authority housing list because the waiting list even to get assessed is so long now,’ she added.
The latest Daft.ie rental report found that, on August 1, there were just 716 homes available to rent nationwide, and fewer than 300 in Dublin.
That compares to 2,500 a year earlier, marking another record low in availability.
‘When women end up going home it’s a last resort, but otherwise they could be out on the street,’ Ms Graham continued.
‘We keep women as long as we can in the refuge and we look at all options but sometimes there’s just nothing out there and they feel they have to go back to the home they came from and try to cope with what was going on.
‘We would have women going to refuge over periods of time because the abuse doesn’t stop. They go back and the abuser is still there, still living with them. And it’s only a matter of time before they need to seek safety again and get out,’ Ms Graham said.
The Government recently announced a strategy which includes funding to double the number of domestic violence refuge spaces from the present 141 to at least 280 in the next five years, meaning places will be available in every county for the first time.
The delay in leaving refuges is affecting women who are desperate to leave their abusive homes.
Ms Graham said this means the charity is being forced to turn more and more women away.
‘It’s horrendous. When you have a woman on the helpline and she has plucked up the courage, maybe for the first time, to ring a helpline or tell anyone that she’s in an abusive relationship, and we have no space,’ she said
‘No woman takes it lightly to uproot and come into a refuge... and for them to take that brave step and move and get into a refuge, and then for there be so little options in staying away from the abusive relationship in terms of finding a new home.’
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said: ‘The need for a significant increase in the provision of refuge spaces has been recognised by Minister Helen McEntee and the Third National Strategy commits to doubling, to over 280, the number of refuge spaces across the country over the lifetime of the plan.’
‘There is nothing out there’ ‘It’s horrendous. We’ve no space’