On Thursday 22nd September the Public Interest Law Centre is launching a London-wide campaign to highlight the systemic gatekeeping of housing support by Local Authorities for domestic abuse survivors, based on original research.
Housing is one of the major barriers facing women and girls fleeing abuse. Most domestic abuse survivors have the legal right to access emergency housing and longer-term safe and secure accommodation. Yet systemic ‘gatekeeping’ (the placing of bureaucratic or other obstacles in the way of those seeking statutory support) across local councils means many survivors are unable to access the help they so desperately need.
This event will look in detail at local-authority ‘gatekeeping’ of housing support, and will discuss the findings from witness statements provided by 32 domestic abuse survivors—one for each London borough—which illustrate that local authority gatekeeping can be the difference between life and death, safety and danger, housing and street homelessness.
Join us in-person on Thursday 22nd September – 7pm at The Gallery Cafe, 21 Old Ford Rd E2 9PL to join our call in demanding that the Government launch an independent investigation into the systemic problem of gatekeeping in domestic abuse cases to call for an end to this life-threatening practice.
You can can book your ticket to attend through eventbrite
Speakers:
- Ellen Tansey, specialist in Violence Against Women and Girls and homelessness.
- Elizabeth Jiménez-Yáñez, Policy Manager at Latin American Women’s Rights Service and Step Up Migrant Women Campaign Coordinator
- Isabella Mulholland, Legal Caseworker at Public Interest Law Centre
