WOMEN living with dangerous, violent men are being forced to choose between abuse and homelessness, according to a leading Scottish charity.

So poor are services for women and children fleeing domestic abuse, said Scottish Women’s Aid, that many victims will stay with their abuser rather than risk being on the streets.

The charity said a new report, based on two years of research in Fife, shows the government’s homelessness strategy is letting down those subjected to sexual and domestic abuse.

Between 2013 and 2015, the Women’s Health Improvement Research analysed the experience of 45 women trying to escape violent partners.

For the majority of those women it was them, rather than their abusers, who had to leave the family home.

Most of those had a very poor experience when it came to finding somewhere to stay, and the process of being re-housed often took months.

Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of Scottish Women’s Aid said the fear of becoming homeless, or of making their children homeless, was one of the biggest barriers stopping women leaving violent and abusive partners.

Scottish Women’s Aid said the report’s findings show that a new national strategy is needed to specifically address the housing needs of the victims of domestic abuse.

“The system continues to punish women and children for being victims rather than perpetrators, by forcing them to choose between abuse and homelessness,” Scott said.

She continued: “For many women, housing providers and particularly the local council are the first point of contact to get help and information; so it is absolutely vital that people who come into contact with women every day, identify women who are at risk and provide them with an appropriate, safe, and consistent response. Surely this isn’t too much to ask in a country that has made domestic abuse a policy priority?”

Many of those women, who took part in the research, said they were often disbelieved and the impact of the abuse “minimised” when asking for help from homelessness services.

For 46 per cent of the women taking part in the survey, this was not the first time they had been made homeless because of domestic abuse.

Many women also did not feel safer after moving into a new home, with their ex often knowing where they lived.

The Women’s Health Improvement Research team said the homeless system in Fife left victims of abuse “treated like second class citizens”.

“We produced this report in the hope that it would lead to changes in housing policies, procedures and attitudes to end the injustice that punishes women and children when they have done nothing wrong.”

A spokeswoman for Fife Housing Partnership, and the Fife Domestic and Sexual Abuse Partnership, said they would act on the findings of the report, and had set up a task group to examine urgently what changes should be made to how victims of abuse are dealt with in Fife. Those changes, the partnerships said, would be made by October this year.

The spokeswoman said: “Both partnerships are committed to ensure that we learn the lessons from the research and provide an excellent and consistent standard of service for women and children who need our help to prevent their homelessness, to keep their children at the local school, and to minimise any disruption to them at this most difficult time of their lives.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “We expect local authorities, when they are making decisions on how they see services being delivered, to take the needs of those who use these services into account. We do not tolerate any violence against women and children and anyone who experiences domestic abuse should be able to access the support services they require, wherever they live in Scotland.Householders, workers, healthcare and schools will all benefit from our £10.3 billion funding package, which has been accepted by all 32 local authorities. It provides the opportunity to transform the provision of social care in Scotland with a £250 million investment in integrating health and social care services – helping to make our services fit for the challenges of the 21st century.”


Case studies: ‘If I was alone I would definitely kill myself. But I wanted to live for my daughter’

“I LOST my house and accommodation due to my ex-partner – I didn’t think anything like that would ever happen. He was really controlling with everything. He’d moved into my house – me and my daughter already stayed there – and I was self-employed with my own business. 

“He was working so set up a joint bank account, as you do when you’re with somebody. Set up direct debit for Housing Benefit, Council Tax, all the usual things. Eventually, before I lost my house, I found out that he’d cancelled the direct debits. Because the house was in my name and he was on the tenancy, it was me at fault for everything.

“So I was in thousands upon thousands of pounds in debt which I knew nothing about. I eventually went and spoke to them and tried to get it sorted out, but there was no way I was ever going to be able to pay it off. So they said the only solution they could think of is that I give my house up, because more and more debt was getting added on. So that’s how I eventually lost my house.”


“I WAS just stubborn. I just thought, ‘No, why should we have to move everywhere and everything because of him?’ and I knew back then that he’d find us. He would just never stop, he would never stop. 

“The council, they’re like ‘Och, just go into a homeless unit’ because you’re a private let and you’re asking them to house you. They’re like, ‘Well go down homeless’ and it’s like, ‘With two children and dog and my disability?’ I was like, ‘You really want me to uproot everything?’”


“AFTER we left our home, my 16-month-old daughter and I stayed in a friend of friend’s house. We kept moving to different houses. 

“At the time, life was very hard. We couldn’t get food properly. My daughter is a hungry baby. She couldn’t get food properly. So I used to give my food to her and drink water instead of food. 

“Sometimes they directly tell us to leave their house, which is hard to hear. Because we don’t have any place to go. If I was alone I would definitely kill myself in that situation. But I wanted to live for my daughter.”


The National View: There must be a better way to help those fleeing domestic abuse