What is WHF?

We believe housing is a feminist issue. The Women’s Housing Forum was set up to research and address the challenges that women face in accessing and keeping housing, raising awareness of the link between women’s housing needs and gender inequality.

Who is WHF?

We began as a group of women working in the housing sector, and having seen the inequalities women faced when accessing suitable housing, we wanted to do something about it.

The forum emerged as a means to address the structural inequality that women face, aiming to influence housing providers to address women’s specific needs. The steering group of the forum comprises residents and women working in different parts of the sector.

Our vision for the forum is a place where everyone who cares about women’s housing can have an equal voice and come together to tackle these issues.

**Guest Speakers**

Kate Henderson (NHF)

Terrie Alafat (CIH)

The forum is collaborative by nature, we want to share ideas and suggestions on what the forum should cover, and how. For that reason, we are running the event in a workshop format, each led by someone with lived experience of the issues raised and a housing professional.

**The Agenda**

10:30 – 11:00 Registration, tea & coffee

11:00 – 11:20 Welcome and introduction by Denise Fowler (Women’s Pioneer Housing) and Donna

McCarthy (Devonshire’s solicitors)

11:30 – 11:45 Terrie Alafat, Chartered Institute of Housing

11:45 – 12:45 Workshop 1: Women, young girls and homelessness – Bastwick 1

Run by Caroline Bernard (Homeless Link), Sarah Walters, Selina Hanley, Charlotte

Waterson, Natalie Harrison (Shelter)

Workshop 2: Domestic Abuse and Housing – The Auditorium

Run by Gudrun Burnet (DAHA) and Penny East (Safelives)

Workshop 3: Women and Design – Bastwick 2

Run by Wendy Davis (Rooms of our Own) and Susan Mackie (Homes England)

12:45 – 13:30 Lunch (veggie & gluten free options provided)

13:30 – 14:30 Workshop 1: Women, young girls and homelessness – Bastwick 1

Run by Caroline Bernard (Homeless Link), Sarah Walters, Selina Hanley, Charlotte

Waterson, Natalie Harrison (Shelter)

Workshop 2: Domestic Abuse and Housing – The Auditorium

Run by Gudrun Burnet (DAHA) and Penny East (Safelives)

Workshop 3: Women and Design – Bastwick 2

Run by Wendy Davis (Rooms of our Own) and Susan Mackie (Homes England)

14:30 – 15:15 Zaiba Qureshi (Housing for Women): Feedback from each workshop and discussion

15:15 – 15:30 Kate Henderson, National Housing Federation

15:30 – 16:00 Aileen Evans (Grand Union): Next Steps for the Forum

Intersectionality, which considers the overlapping contexts that women face in relation to their race, sexuality, age etc. alongside being a woman, is at the heart of the work and research the forum wants to do and will be considered at every workshop.

The event is free and open to anyone interested in women’s housing issues but spaces are limited and by ticket only.

In the meantime, you can join the conversation on Twitter #WHFJan19 #HousingIsAFeministIssue

Tweet us @Womens_Housing

We look forward to seeing you in 2019!

This event is kindly sponsored by Devonshires Solicitors LLP.