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Coronavirus: Hotels urged to make empty rooms available to domestic abuse victims during lockdown

‘You can make a difference to some of the most vulnerable women who otherwise have no-one to turn to for security, comfort and support,’ letter to chains says

Samuel Osborne
Friday 27 March 2020 17:34 GMT
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One charity said evidence from China, where the coronavirus outbreak originated, suggested rates of domestic abuse increased threefold
One charity said evidence from China, where the coronavirus outbreak originated, suggested rates of domestic abuse increased threefold

Hotels should make empty rooms available for women and children experiencing domestic abuse during the coronavirus lockdown, campaigners have said.

Charities have warned of a possible “epidemic of abuse” as social distancing measures mean women will be more vulnerable to abuse and less able to escape it.

Southall Black Sisters, a not-for-profit company campaigning on gender-related violence, and the cross-party organisation Compassion in Politics have written to hotel chains urging them to open their doors to abuse victims.

They fear women and children will be forced to stay in abusive households due to a lack of refuge beds, and the stress caused by the unprecedented crisis may lead to others being abused for the first time.

The letter reads: “You can prevent such experiences from happening to more women and children – or at the very least, limit the scale of the problem.

“You can make a difference to some of the most vulnerable women who otherwise have no-one to turn to for security, comfort and support.

“While the rooms of your hotel are unoccupied, will you offer a hotel in a publicly undisclosed space, free of charge, to women fleeing a domestic abuser so that they are safe and secure?”

Specialist women’s support services ”would need to have an ongoing role in supporting women and children in any such hotel bed scheme to ensure it was safe,” the letter warns.

It was backed by the domestic abuse and victims’ commissioners, Labour MPs Jess Phillips and Carolyn Harris, and several charities, including Women’s Aid.

Southall Black Sisters said evidence from China, where the Covid-19 outbreak originated, suggested rates of domestic abuse increased threefold.

A woman who recently contacted the organisation said the stringent social distancing measures would be “difficult and very stressful” for her family.

“I’ve reached a point like today when my hands are shaking during an argument and I can’t stop it! I need your help and your experience to make this self-isolation bearable for me and my son,” she said.

Birmingham Yardley MP Ms Phillips said: “We must work together at this moment of crisis. The coming weeks or months of lockdown and self-isolation leave those in abusive relationships in grave danger.

“Hotels have an opportunity to throw a lifeline to vulnerable women and children, to offer a place of safety, at a time when they need it the most.”

Hotels in London have made rooms available to rough sleepers in a bid to protect them from the spread of coronavirus.

Some 300 rooms were offered to the homeless in an initial trial last weekend.

Additional reporting by Press Association

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