RESPONDING to today’s Government Spending Review, Nahar Choudhury, chief executive of Solace, said: “For too long, domestic abuse services have struggled to provide survivors with suitable accommodation, safe from harm, due to the ongoing housing crisis.

“With two-thirds of the survivors we support presenting with a housing need, we welcome the new investment in affordable and social housing, and will be calling for domestic abuse survivors to be prioritised.

“Likewise, funding to address homelessness and rough sleeping is a step in the right direction, however if the government wants to bring about lasting change and focus on prevention, it must first recognise its systemic under-counting of women sleeping rough and the neglect of their specific experiences.

“We are disappointed, however, in the 1.7% decrease of the Home Office budget, which stands in direct contrast to the government’s pledge to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade.”