Black and minoritised women survivors and homelessness during COVID-19
WAHA and Imkaan's letter to government urges action to support Black and minoritised women survivors who are homeless or at risk of homelessness during COVID-19
Today (27 April 2020), Imkaan and its members have sent a letter to Boris Johnson and colleagues, calling for urgent action to support Black and minoritised women victims and survivors of violence who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As evidenced in the WAHA report, ‘A Roof Not A Home’, homeless Black and minoritised survivors have long been experiencing a crisis in relation to the profound inadequacy of the UK government, local authorities and public services’ response to their refuge and housing needs. A significant contributory factor has been a decade of austerity policies which have had a disproportionate negative impact on the specialist BME ‘by and for’ sector (Imkaan, 2015; Women’s Resource Centre with the Women’s Budget Group, 2018 ). However, this pandemic outbreak is set to further exacerbate the crisis we have already been living with, and its effects on Black and minoritised women will be catastrophic if the government fails to act urgently.