Hackney Council

FOI Request - Extra Beds for Domestic Abuse (FOI-6242)

Message from Hackney Council

07 September 2020

Dear ***** *****

Re: Freedom of Information Request /Environmental Information Request

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, received 15 July 2020. We would like to offer our sincere apologies for the delay in responding to your enquiry. Your request has been considered and our response is in bold below.

You requested the following:

I am writing to make a Freedom of Information request to your council I would like to receive information on the following for research purposes; -

Since March 23rd 2020,

how many extra beds have been made available to victims of domestic abuse specifically (not homeless people or any other groups needing accommodation).

Within this data on beds for domestic abuse survivors I would like the following break down

- What is the gender breakdown of the beds provided? IE how many were made available for women, men etc.

- How many of these beds were move on beds?

- How many of these beds were refuge beds?

- How many dependents also found refuge with the escaping parent?

The Council’s Response

Any individual/family, fleeing or fearing domestic abuse can seek housing assistance from any local authority.

The primary legislation under which any housing assistance is provided by the Council"s Benefits and Housing Needs Service is homelessness legislation, that is, Part VII of the Housing Act 1996, this provides the statutory under-pinning for action to prevent homelessness and provide assistance to people threatened with or actually homeless. The Council will house individual or family in homelessness temporary accommodation and refer the applicant for support via Hackney"s Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence Support Team: https://hackney.gov.uk/domestic-violence , whilst a settled housing solution is sought. The Council has not made "extra beds" available, any eligible applicant who approaches the Benefits and Housing Needs Service is accommodated in temporary accommodation..

From 23.03.20 to 15.08.20 a total of 46 cases were assessed in accordance with homelessness legislation, where the applicant had stated that the reason for the loss of their last settled accommodation was Domestic Abuse, 4 of whom were men. Of these 46 applicants, 20 were placed in temporary accommodation.

Individuals or families can also independently seek refuge from domestic violence by approaching non-Council services such as:

https://www.hestia.org/hackney

Nia Project (Hackney) mailto:[email protected]

The Council"s Benefits and Housing Needs Service would not be aware if "extra beds" were provided by external organisations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Appeals & Complaints Procedure

If you are dissatisfied with this response and wish to appeal, please reply to this email and this will be dealt with through our Internal Review procedure.

Your request should be submitted to us within 40 working days of receipt of this response. Any request received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the Council.

If you are still not satisfied following the Internal Review, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner"s:

https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/

Information Commissioner"s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

0303 123 1113

Yours sincerely

Information Management Team

ICT Services
London Borough of Hackney

Page updated: 13/04/2021 14:55:46