Introduction

The three case study associations varied in the numbers of properties they had available to let and the numbers that were allocated to homeless people, including women who had left a violent partner/ex-partner. As far as women's applications were concerned, a broad range of influences affected whether they obtained sufficient priority to be rehoused. These are explored in this chapter.

The local Bluebell HA handled twice as many lettings (353) as the multi-regional Foxglove HA (174) in the year when the interviews for this study took place. Surprisingly, the smallest association in the study, Tulip HA, also handled more lettings over that year (189) than Foxglove HA in this particular local authority area. (It was possible to directly compare all three associations in relation to this since the local authority supplied information about Foxglove HA's performance from CORE statistics it obtained on a local authority-wide basis.) However, the staffing complement to deal with this work was similar in the three associations. Practically, this meant that staff in Bluebell HA had far more assessment and allocations work than the staff in the other two associations.

Tulip HA, the small black association, was the only association which rehoused homeless applicants in significant numbers. It exceeded both Bluebell HA and Foxglove HA numerically (109 compared to Bluebell HA's 64) and in the proportion of its total lettings which were made to homeless applicants (58% compared to Bluebell HA's 19% and Foxglove HA's 20%).

More women leaving domestic violence were rehoused by Tulip HA than the other two associations numerically (31 compared to Bluebell HA's 14) and proportionately (16.4%, 3% and 3.8% of the total applicants rehoused within each association, respectively). (Tulip HA's figure represented an increase from 1996/97 when the equivalent figure was 21, or 11%.) Whether or not women were statutory homeless and had or had not been nominated was impossible to say from the data available.

There were significant differences in the ethnic origin of applicants rehoused by the two local case study associations. Just looking at the information that was available on those new tenants who were black, white or of ‘mixed’ ethnic origin, 59% of Tulip HA's new tenants were black (113 out of 189); another 11% were of ‘mixed’ ethnic origin (22 out of 189); and 22% were white (43 out of 189).