Raya, Jack and I (Pink!) lead on Priority 8 which is about making sure that women and children have a safe and high standard place to stay when they escape domestic abuse. It is also about making moving home smoother or helping some families to stay in their own homes safely.
Priority 8 is a huge area that covers refuges and homelessness prevention. Over the summer we visited the Drumchapel Women’s Aid refuge which is the most up-to-date in Scotland. We spoke to Women’s Aid workers and to Neil from Cairn Housing Association who built the refuge. We also spoke to two young people who lived in Drumchapel’s old refuge for 1 year; then they moved to the new one and got re-housed after 6 weeks.
What impressed us about Drumchapel was its size and its facilities – the teenagers’ room, the huge garden, the communal living room for women and the room for children. The flats are modern and big. Families do not have to share bathrooms or kitchens. We were also impressed by the workers who provide support 24/7. Their story of how the refuge was built is inspirational. They fought for ten years to complete it. At one point they even tried to build it themselves because the local authority did not want to give them enough funding to make it as high standard as it is today. The workers and the women trained themselves as builders and plumbers and that is when the local authority started to listen and Cairn Housing Association was invited to build it. What was most impressive though was how proud the young people are of the new refuge and how much of a difference living there has made to their lives.
Pink, Jack and Raya with the two young people in the refuge’s room for children