Your support is a lifeline for women with nowhere to turn
Women are trapped in dangerous situations
In 2025, around half of all applications to our emergency grants programme were on behalf of women, many of whom are invisible to the system. They are often trapped in unsafe, abusive or exploitative housing, living with violent partners, coercive family members, or in situations where their safety is at constant risk.
For women in these situations, leaving is not a simple decision. Financial insecurity, fear of further violence, concern for their children, and a lack of safe alternatives are all factors to consider. And often the choice is to stay in danger or face homelessness. Without access to immediate, practical support, many women are left with no realistic way to escape harm on their own.
And it’s only getting worse
Relentless funding cuts have seen many gendered spaces and facilities forced to shut their doors in recent years, leaving thousands of women, and often their children, feeling that they have nowhere to turn. The bleak alternatives to sheltering in place – rough sleeping and mixed-gender hostels, for example – don’t feel like an option for most women, who fear exchanging one form of danger and violence for another. So the epidemic of hidden homelessness continues to spread.
But the St Martin’s Charity community is stepping in…
Through emergency grants, frontline partnerships and funding for specialist services, we are supporting women to find safety and stability.