Tower Hamlets Council has been awarded the bronze standard from the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA), the UK’s benchmark for housing providers delivering safe, consistent, and effective responses to domestic abuse.
Tower Hamlets is now one of only three London boroughs this year to achieve DAHA bronze award across both Housing Options (homelessness services) and Housing Management, whereas most local authorities typically aim for a single service area. This demonstrates a joined-up approach response to supporting survivors of domestic abuse.
This award reflects the council’s long-term commitment to ensure housing services and specialist support remain safe, accessible, effective, and responsive. Through the DAHA framework, domestic abuse awareness and best practices have been embedded across all housing services with a strong focus on homelessness prevention and early intervention. This enables Housing Options to identify early signs, responding safety and confidently by supporting survivors to access safe accommodation and appropriate support.
Building on this achievement, the council is already working towards achieving silver and gold awards in 2026/27, reflecting its commitment to embed domestic abuse awareness, prevention, and early intervention across all housing services.
Executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, said:
"Protecting our residents from domestic abuse is of the utmost importance and this bronze DAHA award shows the significant improvements we are making with the Council’s response as a landlord, including through raising awareness, creating safer systems and providing robust and effective support to those in need.
“Every resident deserves to feel safe in their home and we remain fully committed to achieving this and supporting residents as we progress on our journey to silver and gold accreditation.”
David Joyce, Corporate Director of Housing and Regeneration, said:
“This award is a significant step forward for our housing and frontline teams and reflects their dedication to apply better ways of working so we can respond consistently and effectively to domestic abuse.
“As we move towards silver and gold, we will continue embedding these practices and developing new routes for residents to feel safe, protected, and empowered to seek support from our teams when they need it.”
Cllr Abu Talha Chowdhury, Cabinet Member for Public Protection and Integrated Enforcement, said:
“Domestic abuse has no place in our borough, and this DAHA bronze award shows the real progress we’re making to strengthen protection and support for survivors.
“It sits alongside the wider work of our Violence Against Women and Girls and Domestic Abuse team, including borough-wide training, outreach, and the launch of our new One Stop Shop offering immediate, coordinated support every Monday.”
Nicki Clarke, Head of Service at Housing and Criminal Justice, said:
“We are delighted to recognise Tower Hamlets Council with the DAHA Bronze Accreditation across both Housing Options and Housing Management. Achieving accreditation across multiple housing functions demonstrates a strong, coordinated commitment to improving responses to domestic abuse and ensuring survivors receive safe, consistent, and trauma-informed support.
"This milestone reflects the dedication of staff and leadership across the council to embed best practice and strengthen systems that prioritise survivor safety. We congratulate Tower Hamlets on this achievement and look forward to supporting them as they continue their journey towards silver and gold accreditation.”
Achieving the bronze award reflects significant work across services including strengthened partnership working with domestic abuse specialist organisations, extensive staff training, improved policies and procedures and stronger case management processes to ensure survivors receive consistent trauma informed support. These steps place the council in a strong position as it moves towards the silver award.
Posted on Tuesday 17th March 2026