London Whole Housing Service Partnership (LWHSP)
WHAT IS LONDON WHOLE HOUSING SERVICE PARTNERSHIP?
LWHSP works to address and enhance the pathways of housing support for women experiencing domestic abuse - in its varied forms.
Working together to:
- Remove immediate harm.
- Provide safe and sustainable, client-focused and borough specific support around housing needs.
- Aid recovery and resettlement for women with all levels of need.
WHO DOES THE SERVICE SUPPORT?
- Women with housing issues/facing homelessness.
- Women who have or are about to approach the local authorities Housing Options/Solutions.
- Women with social tenancies, living in either Council or Housing Association accommodation.
WHAT ARE THE SERVICE AIMS?
- Co-locate in Local Authority Housing Options/Solutions teams, working directly with women requiring emergency safe accommodation.
- Provide intensive and assertive outreach on an individual basis.
- Provide long term support.
- Coordinate security improvements to be made to a victim's home so they are more able to stay in their home safely.
- Advocate for those with caring responsibilities with Housing teams, Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions and domestic abuse provision.
- Advocate for women from minoritised communities and LGTBQ+ people.
- Coordinate and provide specialist support with debt, financial planning, financial abuse, and benefits (which are the underlying cause of housing insecurity).
- Provide one-to-one, person-centred counselling to allow women to explore, understand and overcome their experiences of domestic abuse.
WHAT CAN SURVIVORS IN DIFFERENT BOROUGHS ACCESS?
- Housing IDVAs (Independent Domestic Violence Advocate), co-located within local authority housing options teams, who will offer crisis intervention to high-risk survivors (Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Camden and Havering).
- DA Housing Advocates, who will support survivors of all risk levels with a local authority or housing association social tenancy, for up to a year (Brent, Camden, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hillingdon, Harrow, Hounslow, Havering, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster).
- Community DA Housing Advocates, providing specialist and culturally specific support (all boroughs).
- Housing Finance & Debt Coordinator, who will support survivors facing financial difficulty due to domestic abuse (all boroughs).
- Housing Carers Advocate, who will provide specialist support to survivors with caring responsibilities (all boroughs).
- Longer-term mental health support to sustain accommodation and rebuild survivors' lives (all boroughs).
WHERE IS THE PARTNERSHIP FORMED?
The partnership works in Brent, Camden, Ealing, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster and across multiple housing agencies.
WHAT IS THE PARTNERSHIP AIM?
Ensuring we provide specialist support to survivors including those from black and minoritised communities, LGBTQ+ people and those with mental health needs.
WHO IS THE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN?
The Partnership is led by Advance and delivered alongside specialist domestic abuse partners:
Al-Hasaniya, AWRC, Galop, Latin American Women's Rights Service (LAWRS), and Woman's Trust.
HOW TO MAKE A REFERRAL?
Email:
referrals.gla@awrc.org.uk (unsecure)
referrals.gla@awrc.cjsm.net (secure)
