New safe houses opening soon
We’re delighted to announce that we have a new property opening very soon, providing two more rooms for survivors of trafficking and other forms of violence. In addition, there are two more flats in the pipeline! This will increase our bed spaces from 14 to 20 at any one time.
The need for what we do is urgent, vast and growing. In 2023, 17,004 potential victims of modern slavery were referred into the government system, with the number of referrals for female survivors at an all time high. Without high-quality aftercare, survivors are extremely vulnerable to falling into homelessness or back into exploitation, so these new rooms really are something to celebrate.
‘A place prepared for me’
Anna is a UK survivor of trafficking and violence currently living in one of our existing safe houses. She spoke about the impact of the house and our support, recently:
‘I was blown away by the beauty of the safehouse when I arrived. A place had been prepared for me and there was nothing I had to do in return,’ said Anna.
‘There was no catch. It’s still sometimes hard to enjoy it when so many people out there still aren’t safe yet - I wish millions of new safe houses like this could open.’
Accommodation for families
In more good news (yes there is more), our new bed spaces have given us the flexibility to convert our smallest existing safe house into a self-contained home for a family. We already support many mums and families through our outreach work, but haven’t been able to offer family accommodation until now.
A mum has now moved in with her young daughter and six month old baby. She said they slept so soundly on their first night, love the house and that they will never forget the feeling of having this safe place to recover and rest
If you donate regularly or have ever donated to Ella’s, it’s thanks to you that we can grow. We are truly thankful for your support. Huge shout out too to TRIBE and Quaker Housing Trust for their grants towards this new house, as well as Trust for London and Charity Bank for their support.
“I was blown away by the beauty of the safehouse when I arrived. A place had been prepared for me and there was nothing I had to do in return.”
If you haven’t donated to Ella’s and could, times are ever tougher for small charities so please consider donating if you can. And please, if you have any links with furniture shops or businesses that could support with fitting out the new homes, we’d be so grateful if you could send them our way!
Thank you so much for being with us on the journey to help unlock freedom among some of the UK’s most vulnerable women.
Photos: Tom Price/Ella’s