A legal challenge has been brought against Camden Council for failing victims of domestic violence who are in urgent need of safe and suitable housing. 

Camden Council placed our client, a survivor of domestic and sexual abuse, into mixed gender accommodation without any regard for the impact on her mental and physical wellbeing. 

Impact of Mixed Gender Accommodation

Despite being made aware of our client’s domestic and sexual abuse history, Camden Council failed to assess the possible risks of placing her in shared accommodation with men. She began experiencing suicidal ideation as a result of her placement, and we therefore challenged the suitability of that accommodation by way of a judicial review.

The provision of gender-specific accommodation is essential for the physical and emotional safety of domestic abuse survivors. Research has shown that traumatised individuals, who may be experiencing symptoms of PTSD, require a safe environment with adequate social support for their symptoms to improve. Placing domestic abuse survivors in accommodation with men often leads to women feeling threatened and unstable, inducing high levels of anxiety, stress and exacerbating symptoms of PTSD. 

With the help of several frontline organisations, we have obtained a wealth of evidence demonstrating that Camden’s gender-neutral approach to accommodation provision is affecting many vulnerable women in the borough. Camden council is failing to provide necessary safety to women escaping severe abuse and trauma. 

The Council, in placing our client in a mixed-gender hostel without any regard for her particular circumstances, has shown a willful disregard even on the most basic human level for the abuse that our client has suffered over the years.

To make matters worse, the Council is now planning on closing the sole women-only hostel accommodation in the borough, and organisations are inevitably becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of this on their service users.

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The legal challenge and the help we need

Five weeks after placing our client in unsuitable accommodation, Camden Council agreed to move her into alternative accommodation. They are now arguing that our case is ‘academic’, and the court has refused permission to proceed with the challenge on that basis. 

However, our client thinks the case should continue:

• She wants the Council to stop automatically placing those fleeing sexual and/or domestic abuse into mixed gender accommodation, and
• To increase the provision of women only accommodation for those fleeing domestic violence.

This wider public interest challenge will, if successful, force councils to properly assess the needs of individuals fleeing domestic violence and offer them accommodation that is safe and supportive at a time in their lives when they need it most.