Frontline organisations supporting women facing homelessness rely on flexible grants to act quickly when safety or housing is at risk. Our grants programmes help remove immediate financial barriers, enabling women to escape unsafe situations and secure or sustain a safe place to live.
Emergency grants
In 2024-25, 45.7% of the 4,986 emergency grants we awarded were for women. These grants are available for a wide range of women in a range of different situations, but we know that women facing or experiencing homelessness, who need a grant from us to access safety, often face similar challenges. Nearly a quarter of these grants went to women with experience of domestic abuse, compared only 2.2% of grants awarded to men.
Without money for a deposit, women can’t access a safe home to escape their abusers.
“There is something about giving money to those in need to enable them to pay off financial commitments that somehow doesn’t quite resonate. People are happier to donate and make it possible for essential purchases or for practical or emotional support.
But there’s an assumption that there are ‘benefits’ or ‘the system’ that will ensure that those who are homeless, especially vulnerable women, will get help with a deposit, or with paying their first month’s rent upfront. That really is not the case.”
Sue Coleman, CEO of West Mercia Women’s Aid
Being able to breach that financial gap – an otherwise impossible bridge to cross – is crucially important for those women whose whole lives have been carefully controlled, and who have been left with no agency and no financial means of their own.
“I am now living somewhere I feel safe and that I can call home. I am slowly getting used to not jumping at every sound, and just being able to live again. The grant helped as it was a relief knowing the rent in advance was taken care of and I would be able to have the property.”
Woman who had been a victim of crime before receiving an emergency grant from St Martin’s Charity
Alexandra’s story
Alexandra* became homeless when she left an abusive relationship. She packed two bags, gathered her three young children, and fled with just £15 to her name. Overnight, they found themselves without a home and without the money needed to secure one. The cost required to make a safe home possible was less than £500, but it was completely out of reach for her.
With the help of a close friend, Alexandra approached her local refuge, who were quick to step in. They provided a temporary home in a refuge – a safe place from which Alexandra and her children could rebuild their lives. When she was ready, her frontline worker applied to St Martin’s Charity for an emergency grant to help cover the cost of securing a safe place to live. The grant was awarded quickly, and Alexandra was able to secure a home where she and her children could finally feel safe, free from fear and instability.
“It’s amazing because I’m happy, the happiest I’ve been well, since I can remember”
Now, Alexandra and her children are settled and beginning to rebuild their lives. For the first time in a long while, she is able to look to the future with hope.
*Alexandra’s name has been changed to protect her identity, but her story is real
“The grant helps pretty much every client that I support. Without the grant, it would be close to impossible to help families move on from refuge. Everyone that’s had to flee domestic abuse, often leaves most of their belongings behind and have to start again.”
Alexandra’s support worker
Sustaining accommodation
Sustaining accommodation
Our Sustaining Accommodation Fund focuses on early intervention to help people stay in the homes they already have. Through flexible, one-off grants, delivered by partner organisations, the fund supports practical needs that strengthen housing stability and reduce the risk of homelessness.
The fund offers grants of up to £10,000 to organisations supporting people who are at risk of losing their home. Each organisation receives a block grant, which they can award in smaller grants of up to £500 per person, as and when the people they support need it.
The fund is currently being delivered in partnership with a range of organisations across the UK, including West Mercia Women’s Aid.
All of these projects support women, but West Mercia Women’s Aid work only with women who have experienced domestic abuse. They use the funds to enable families fleeing abuse to to settle into new accommodation, or remain safely in their homes. Helen Richardson, Head of Client Services at West Mercia Women’s Aid, said:
Thanks to the Sustaining Accommodation Fund which we received in November 2025, we have been able to support five families so far.
This funding has enabled Families who have experienced domestic abuse to either remain safely in their existing homes or settle in to new accommodation.
The impact of domestic abuse does not end when a family flees or when a perpetrator is removed from the property. Survivors are often left managing significant financial hardship, damage to their homes, and distressing reminders of their experiences. Through the Sustaining Accommodation Fund we have been able to provide practical and essential support, including items such as new beds as children grow, wardrobes, flooring, and bedding, as well as assistance with rent payments and rent arrears. For many of the families we support, ongoing financial pressures mean these basic necessities are often unaffordable, as immediate survival costs must take priority.
We know that feeling safe, settled, and secure in their home environment is fundamental to recovery. This funding has allowed us to respond flexibly and provide timely support in situations where other funding applications have been unsuccessful, ensuring survivors have what they need to rebuild stability, comfort, and a sense of safety in their home.
