Hull Council - Providing Safer Homes for Domestic Abuse Victims
The Housing Service plays a key role in the Hull Domestic Abuse Partnership (DAP), led by One Hull Community Safety Partnership, alongside Humberside Police, Hull Teaching PCT, Children and Young People’s Services, Victim Support and Hull Women’s Aid.
Hull DAP was set up in 2004 to improve the options available to survivors experiencing domestic abuse, in recognition that one agency alone could not respond to this complex issue. Critical to this was the provision of appropriate housing options for victims. A range of measures have been introduced, in partnership with Hull DAP-including specialist training for staff, provision of specialist housing workers, dispersed housing and target hardening (security measures to homes).
The partnership approach has created a unique opportunity for all agencies with responsibility for tackling domestic abuse to pool resources and offer holistic services tailored to individual needs. Hull DAP is the model that is being emulated regionally as the basis to develop local services.
The co-located partnership offers a “value added” service that links statutory and voluntary agencies and enables city-wide monitoring of the scale and impact of domestic abuse. It has transformed the way that survivors access and receive services.