Rosmerta – providing good quality leased accommodation for women’s services in England
The problem Work undertaken across the sector in recent years has identified that most women’s sector organisations typically lease or have insecure management agreements with local landlords or housing associations to provide safe accommodation for vulnerable women, leaving them exposed to the risk of this accommodation being withdrawn, as experienced by many organisations in the last few years.
The solution Rosmerta seeks to provide a viable alternative source of quality accommodation for organisations of all sizes in the sector enabling them to have security of tenure over the safe accommodation they operate
Who? Rosmerta (named after the Celtic goddess of wealth and innovation) is a collaboration of senior leaders in the women’s sector in England which has been established to create solutions to intractable problems in funding services which tackle Violence Against Women and Girls, in particular safe accommodation. It includes, Sarah Hill, CEO of IDAS in York and trustee of the Women’s Aid Federation England, Lisa Hilder MBE, trustee and treasurer of the award-winning Preston Road Women’s Centre in Hull, Yasmin Rehman CEO of Juno Women’s Aid in Nottingham, Amanda Elwen CEO of HARV Outreach in Burnley and Fiona Sheil, independent researcher
Why? Traditionally women’s services supporting survivors of domestic abuse or sexual violence have been precariously dependent on short term revenue streams of funding from various government departments and/or charitable funders. Some also have problematic arrangements for the accommodation they lease.
How and where? Rosmerta (which will be a CIO) seeks to provide a capital asset base providing secure access to safe accommodation from which WSOs can operate. This asset base will grow over time and be owned by and for the sector.
Work is progressing well with capital funders to identify monies to purchase properties for Rosmerta Housing which will then be leased on fair and reasonable terms to women’s sector organisations delivering refuge and supported accommodation to survivors of domestic abuse across the country.