Entre la magia y la locura La famosa creatividad.

Housing aid for women escaping violence had been cal- culated by the studies in this review in relation to: mu- nicipal emergency shelter, housing aid transfers and pay- ments, and temporary accommodation. The methods employed by the studies to estimate the economic im- pact of intimate partner violence in terms of housing are summarised in Table 6.2.2.1.

Table 6.2.2.1: Methods employed to estimate housing aid

Study Unit Cost Unit Cost Data

Source Multiplier Multiplier Data Source

France (Nectoux et al 2010)

Housing: Average annual cost of housing aid per beneficiary multiplied by length of average stay (5 years).

Total expenditure on housing aid di- vided by the num- ber of beneficiaries.

Estimate that 55 % (those with children) of 30 % of women whose divorces were attribut- able to IPV eligible for housing aid.

Housing Report. Estimated proportion of divorces because of IPV (15 %) based on the expert opinions of 10 law practitioners.

Operating budget of emergency accommodation.

Administrative data. Estimate that 6 % of the emergency housing budget is attributable to IPV.

Report on housing and resettlement.

England & Wales (Walby 2004)

Housing: Total housing expenditure by local authorities for people made homeless fleeing violence.

Administrative data. Total expenditure multiplied by proportion (15 %) of those accepted as homeless due to intimate partner violence by local authority.

National Housing Statistics.

Housing Benefit: Total funds for housing through payment transfers.

Administrative data. Total expenditure multiplied by proportion (15 %) of those accepted as homeless due to intimate partner violence by local authority.

National Housing Statistics.

Housing Benefit: Aver- age cost per week paid to households with pri- vate sector landlords.

Administrative data. Research and expert opinion.

12 % of proportion (15 %) of those accepted as homeless due to IPV by local authority in private sector temporary accommodation. Average length of stay in temporary accommodation (28 weeks).

Research. National Housing Statistics.

Average amount per award (for furnishing new home).

Administrative data. Number of women accepted as homeless because of inti- mate partner violence by local authority.

National Housing Statistics.

Australia (Access

Economics 2004) Proportion of tempo-rary housing budget for support due to IPV.

Administrative data. Aboriginal Hostels Limited. Crisis Accommodation Programme.

IPV proportion based on vic- tim reports of IPV to agency and that were not living with partner during housing sup- port period.

Administrative data. Aboriginal Hostels Lim- ited. Crisis Accommoda- tion Program.

Finland

(Piispa et al 2001)

Cost of a municipal

shelter place per day. Administration data. Estimated number of shelter places and client days per year.

Piispa and Heiskanen (2001) provided an estimate of the cost of municipal emergency shelter accommodation in Finland. The impact was formulated as the average cost of a shelter place per day based on administrative data from the Espoo shelter, this unit cost was then multiplied by the estimated number of shelter days used per year estab- lished from activity reports of municipal shelter utilisation from the Federation of Mother and Child Homes and Shel- ters. Piispa and Heiskanen (2001) point out in their report that the majority of shelter accommodation was provided by non-government organisations and the cost of munici- pal shelter reported in this section represents a small pro- portion of total shelter provision. (The non-government shelter provision is reviewed in the section on specialist services costs.)

Estimating the cost of housing aid to assist women escap- ing intimate partner violence and disentangling them- selves from an abusive relationship is difficult for two reasons. The first is that it may be difficult to estimate the number of people accessing the different types of hous- ing support because of intimate partner violence, and secondly, often short- and long-term means of housing support are funded differently.

For France, Nectoux et al (2010) based the cost of housing aid as a proportion of the number of women (15 %) whose divorces had been estimated (by expert opinion) to be at- tributable to intimate partner violence. Of those women whose divorces had been estimated to be attributable to intimate partner violence, from housing reports it was es- timated that 55 % (those with children) of 30 % (those with low income) would be eligible for housing aid and that this aid would be received for an average of 5 years. The cost per year of housing aid was established by dividing the total expenditure on housing aid by the number of beneficiaries. However, as the authors indicate, based on the number of divorces, this is likely to underestimate the number of women in receipt of housing aid because of intimate partner violence. The estimate for the proportion of emergency housing was sourced from the administra- tive data from two districts which indicated that between 4 % and 8 % of emergency housing aid was for women escaping intimate partner violence (Nectoux et al 2010). The data from England and Wales (Walby 2004), that 15 % of all housing aid was attributable to intimate partner violence, is likely a more realistic figure of the number of women seeking housing aid because there is a statutory duty on local authorities in England and Wales to provide assistance to people homeless or threatened with home- lessness (DCLG 2013a). Consequently, it is more likely that women will disclose intimate partner violence to local housing authorities. The National Housing Statistics report annually on the proportion of people accepted as home- less due to intimate partner violence by local housing authorities. Within the statutory duty framework 53 160

households in England were accepted as homeless owed statutory assistance in 2013 (DCLG 2014), of these, 6 300 (12 %) cited partner violence as the reason for the loss of their home (DLCG 2014b, Live Table 774. In Wales, 5 210 households were accepted as homeless owed statutory assistance in 2013, 15 % cited violent relationship break- down as the cause of homelessness (JRF 2014) and 740 (14 %) were given priority need because of domestic violence (Statistics For Wales 2014). Therefore it is reason- able to currently contend that in England and Wales be- tween 12 % and 14 % (mean 13 %) households accepted as homeless owed statutory duty assistance in 2013 were homeless because of domestic violence. This is likely to be an underestimate, firstly, because women with recourse to interim funds or other forms of temporary housing support or who are more financially independent may not need to declare themselves homeless, women may not disclose domestic violence, and secondly, in some regions, ‘women fleeing domestic violence’ have been de-prioritised and the interpretation of ‘vulnerability’ has become narrower to only include mental health and/ or medical conditions (Fitzpatrick et al 2013). The figure of 13 %, can be used in estimates as the proportion of women homeless and seeking housing aid because of domestic violence. Although it is also possible that at least 13 % of all housing aid benefits paid can be connected with intimate partner violence its inclusion in economic analyses would be speculative because there is presently insufficient supporting evidence to make such a claim. The study undertaken in Australia also reports cost as the intimate partner violence proportions of total budg- ets, although in this study an overall average percent- age of homelessness due to intimate partner violence was not reported. Furthermore this estimate was only for short-term (12 weeks) homelessness. These examples indi- cate the potential complexity of housing aid calculations across Member States. To permit assessment of the eco- nomic cost of housing aid attributable to intimate partner violence, it is recommended that the figure of 13 % is used as the total homeless housing aid expenditure multiplier. Sanctuary Schemes are a more recent intervention to prevent homelessness. Sanctuary schemes support peo- ple subject to domestic violence to stay in their homes by providing security and safety equipment (reinforced doors and windows, fire retardant letter boxes, smoke detectors, alarms, CCTV and intercom systems) to prevent future violence. Of the 94 200 households in England pro- vided with assistance to remain in their existing home, 8 %, or 7 536 households were supported through the sanctuary scheme for domestic violence (DCLG 2013a). The average cost per sanctuary scheme was GBP 750 — GBP 1000 (mean GBP 875) in 2006 (DCLG 2006). This unit cost model for estimating the cost of sanctuary schemes can be included in the housing aid methodology as it is additional homelessness prevention expenditure.

Table 6.2.2.2: Recommended model to estimate the economic impact of housing aid

Unit Cost Unit Cost Data Source

Multiplier Multiplier Data Source Sanctuary Schemes: aver-

age unit cost per sanctuary scheme.

Local Authority Research Number of households supported by sanctuary schemes.

National Housing Statistics

Housing aid: Total local au-

thority homeless housing aid expenditures per annum.

Administrative housing aid

budget data from MS. 13 % (13 % of women seek-ing housing aid were home- less because of IPV).

National Housing Statistics.