[Skip to Content]

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Evie works at The Nelson Trust’s Women’s Centre in Bristol. Evie’s team specifically work with women experiencing or at risk of homelessness, many of whom are rough sleeping. A large part of the support they offer is to speak with the local Council to get women housed. In February, Evie’s team applied for a Training Fund grant from St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity to allow them to attend Domestic Abuse and Housing training provided by Shelter. 

This training was relevant for Evie and her team because of the strong correlation between experience of domestic violence and experience of homelessness for women.  

“One of the number one things that our women experience is, when they are experiencing homelessness, it's also interlinked with domestic abuse. I felt that with the passing of the Domestic Abuse Act in 2021, there was definitely a need for me to know more about how housing and homelessness and domestic abuse interlink in a legal sense, so that we as a center can better support women going through both.” 

The training was incredibly beneficial for the team. It provided both theoretical and practical guidance – from information on the Domestic Abuse Act to tips on how to advocate on behalf of women presenting to their Council as homeless.  

“It was really beneficial. It was very practical things that you can do when you're working with women. I think that's what we really wanted. There were things about support techniques on how to work with women when they're going through domestic abuse, also things about how to work with women when the local authority aren't responding to you and different ways to escalate that.” 

The team being able to attend the training has directly benefited the women they work with. The new knowledge and skills has equipped Evie and her colleagues to better support the women out of homelessness.  

“By key workers advocating and challenging what councils are saying, from the resources and techniques we learned in the training, that's directly having a positive impact for women because they're having their housing cases looked at again, in some cases overturned. In some cases, they're being housed.” 

Evie has been able to utilize the training to improve the skills of new staff members at The Nelson Trust, too.  

“From that training, I then developed my own accommodation training that I held again to the team. We've had new starters who weren't on the training, so I've managed to use the resources to further train the team, which has been really useful.” 

The grant from St Martin’s Training Fund has unlocked a new set of knowledge and skills for Evie and her team, which the organisation will continue to use going forwards to better support the women they work with into housing. 

March 2024 | We caught up with Evie six months later, to find out how the training the team undertook had been embedded into their practice. We found that the accommodation training Evie developed has been repeated three times for new starters, ensuring everyone on the team has the same level of expert knowledge on the subject. The team also continually re-visit the training to ensure they're using it in their work.

The following quote is from a member of The Nelson Trust team, demonstrating the concrete ways that accessing the training through the Training Fund has directly benefitted the women they support. 

"After the training with Shelter, a client showed me a letter she had received from her housing authority that they were moving to repossess her flat due to outstanding rent arrears. She accumulated these arrears in part when she had a prolonged hospital stay and was under the impression that her rent was coming out of her Universal Credit when it wasn’t. I supported her to contact Shelter, and she was assigned a solicitor who supported her at her court date at Civil Court this week. Her solicitor spoke with her before the date and is offering ongoing support. She is defending my client, and has also submitted a counter claim due to years of my client reaching out to her housing authority about severe issues in the apartment including flooding and damp issues/mould that have gone unaddressed.

My client has lived in her flat since 1992 and is a single and vulnerable woman in her 50s. The idea that the council will repossess her flat and cause her to become homeless over rent arrears that she is now paying back in a payment plan is understandably causing her distress. Shelter’s legal support has been a huge relief for her and for me as her support worker!"

If you are a frontline worker or team and have identified a training course that will help you in your current work with people experiencing homelessness, but your organisation is not able to fund it, we may be able to help. Individuals can apply for up to £500 to cover the cost of training and groups can apply for up to £1,500.

News and Views

collapse/expand
  • Brain Injury Guidance

    Brain Injury Guidance

    Leigh Andrews of Change Communication offered specialist advice on brain injuries and homelessness through a digital...
  • End Furniture Poverty Survey

    End Furniture Poverty Survey

    End Furniture Poverty have recently spoken with the Frontline Network to discuss their important ongoing survey, seek...
  • Cover the Cost Campaign

    Cover the Cost Campaign

    Jasmine Basran, Senior Policy Officer at Crisis, talks to us about the Cover the Cost Campaign, asking the Government...
  • VRF Impact Report 2018/19

    VRF Impact Report 2018/19

    Over the past year we have given out 3827 grants totaling £1,156,805 through the VRF. Read the latest Impact Report t...
  • Influence from the Frontline

    Influence from the Frontline

    Frontline workers are crucial at giving insight into the viewpoints of the people they work with as well as the chall...
  • The Vagrancy Act

    The Vagrancy Act

    Crisis, along with others including Homeless Link, Cymorth Cymru, Centrepoint, St Mungo’s, Shelter Cymru and the Wall...
  • Influencing local decisions

    Influencing local decisions

    Zoe, Frontline Network Coordinator at Coventry Citizens Advice, talks to us about the Coventry Frontline Network and...
  • The Litigant in Person Network

    The Litigant in Person Network

    Martha de la Roche, Network Development Manager at Litigant in Person Network (LiP Network), tells us about The LiP N...
  • VRF Impact Report

    VRF Impact Report

    Find out what impact VRF had last year and how to get involved in shaping its direction in the coming year.
  • Housing First Scotland

    Housing First Scotland

    Please see here for the first issue of Housing First Connect - a twice-yearly newsletter for Scotland’s new Housing F...
  • Slaying the Dragon

    Slaying the Dragon

    Will Golding, Edinburgh Tutor at Crisis, talks to us about 'Slaying the Dragon'.
  • CPAG - Early Warning System

    CPAG - Early Warning System

    Dan Norris, from CPAG, talks to us about a new Early Warning System to record the impact of benefit changes implement...
  • The Hostile Environment

    The Hostile Environment

    Bethan Lant, a Project lead from Praxis, writes about the creation of a hostile environment for migrants and refugees.
  • Wrexham’s Crisis Cafe

    Wrexham’s Crisis Cafe

    Sinead Kelleher writes about Wrexham's Crisis Cafe, a multi-agency response to Universal Credit.
  • Frontline Worker Survey

    Frontline Worker Survey

    We are asking frontline workers to participate in a survey, aimed at those working with clients who are experiencing...
  • A map through conflict

    A map through conflict

    A Cyrenians Mediator writes about their innovative Amber Mediation and Support Project, a model of mediation and supp...
  • “A place to call home"

    “A place to call home"

    Hannah Gousy was seconded from Crisis to the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) to help design policy recommendations to...
  • A London Nightshelter

    A London Nightshelter

    On 7 November we opened our church-based shelters for the winter with more churches signed on then ever before. Glass...
  • 'Step Up' at The Connection

    'Step Up' at The Connection

    Wyn Newman introduces the volunteer programme 'Step Up' that has been developed at The Connection for service users.