Firm Foundations for Frontline Future Working: what needs to be done?
Launching a national survey on property ownership, accommodation and long-term sustainability in the women's sector.
Organisations operating in the women’s sector, particularly those operating safe accommodation (refuge or dispersed safe accommodation) are working at the sharp end of service delivery, providing crucial services for women and children fleeing violence and abuse.
Yet, despite fifty years of impact, women’s organisations remain dependent on short term revenue funding contracts and inequitable leases agreements for access to the accommodation they operate.
Far less discussed, however, is the hidden infrastructure problem that sits beneath this. Few organisations own the properties they work from and provide safe accommodation in. Many services operate from buildings they do not control, on short leases or insecure arrangements, with limited ability to build long-term assets or financial resilience.
This is limiting the growth and sustainment of safe accommodation crucial to supporting victim-survivors and their children. And the effects of not owning property go wider than this. Organisations describe the disruption caused when leases end, landlords withdraw properties, or services remain reliant on short-term arrangements despite continued demand. More widely, insecure infrastructure can make it harder to work in partnership, plan ahead, and build stable, preventative support for women and children.
We need a better understanding of the extent of this fragility in the sector and the reasons why this situation persists – what are the barriers which impact on organisations’ ability to buy property or to have more secure access to leased accommodation.
To build this understanding, RIVA has launched a national survey of the women’s sector, aiming to understand the extent and impact of access to capital or equitably leased accommodation in the women’s sector, and to explore how we can improve this access.
The questionnaire is open until Friday 20th June 2026. The questionnaire will help build an evidence base for future policy, investment and sector-led conversations about the long-term sustainability of women’s services and safe accommodation. We are keen to hear from women’s organisations across the UK delivering accommodation, refuge, advocacy and wider support services.
The results and analysis will be published in summer 2026. Please contact hello@riva.org.uk with any questions.