Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to protect homeless women that have suffered domestic violence.

The Government has introduced the Homelessness Reduction Act, which places a legal duty on councils to provide accommodation support to families and individuals, including women, who are vulnerable as a result of fleeing domestic abuse.

Since 2014 my Department has invested £55.5 million in services to support victims of domestic abuse, including refuges, and we recently announced the successful projects from our 2018/2020 £22 million fund to support victims of domestic abuse. The fund will support 63 projects covering 254 local areas across England and will provide support to over 25,000 victims and their families, and more than 2,200 additional bed spaces in accommodation-based services, including refuges.

We recognise that mainstream provision may not always meet the needs of women who sleep rough. That is why we are providing funding through the Rough Sleeping Initiative to ensure rough sleeping frontline workers receive training to support victims of domestic abuse.

We are also providing funding through the Rapid Rehousing Pathway, for specific, targeted support for women. For example, a new Somewhere Safe to Stay two-hub model in Brighton will include a women only hub, delivered by domestic abuse charity partners RISE, which will focus on , tackling complex needs.

We are also working across government to support vulnerable women such as with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, on this year’s £15 million Tampon Tax Fund, which includes a core theme of female homelessness and rough sleeping.