A Newham women’s refuge has won a national UK Housing Award. Beverley Lewis House is the UK’s only refuge that offers places to women with learning disabilities, and is run by the East Thames housing association based in Stratford.
East Thames provides affordable housing in East London and Essex, and owns and manage more than 15,000 homes. They build new homes and provide care and support services as well as employment and training programmes.
Beverley Lewis House consists of six self-contained two-bedroom flats, two of which have wheelchair access and on the ground floor.
The house is managed in a way that allows the residents to make decisions about the day-to-day running of their home. Residents can also attend life skills workshops and art therapy sessions to help them work through their emotional trauma.
The UK Housing Awards recognise the ingenuity, creativity, passion and results achieved UK social housing organisations and are organised by property magazine Inside Housing in association with the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH).
Beverley Lewis House also won a Women in Housing Award last October for Best Community Project to Rebuild Women’s Lives.
