The housing insecurity faced by victims of domestic abuse, referred to in Joan Smith’s article (We’re blind to an epidemic of domestic abuse, 8 April), is about to get worse. Under the housing and planning bill, currently in the Lords, new genuinely secure social housing tenancies will become a thing of the past. As a result women could become trapped in abusive relationships for fear of losing their right to secure housing, not just if they move out but also where domestic violence leads to the replacement of a joint tenancy with a new sole tenancy in the name of the victim. Joan Smith’s account of how housing officers frequently treat those fleeing abuse underlines why it is not sufficient to provide a discretionary power to maintain secure tenancies for this group, as suggested by ministers. I hope we will be able to remove this pernicious provision (added to the bill at the end of its passage through the Commons), but at the very least the government should move now to exempt those subject to domestic abuse, in line with their strategy to end violence against women and girls.
Ruth Lister
Labour, House of Lords
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