For this webinar Devonshires are delighted to welcome Dr Kelly Henderson, Morgan Sindall Property Services, to consider how the housing sector can deliver better services and support to those residents that are affected by domestic abuse. In particular, we will consider the legal remedies available to social landlords who wish to recover possession against perpetrators as well as the impact of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 on social housing providers.
About the Speakers:
Dr Kelly Henderson, Project Manager (Domestic Abuse), Morgan Sindall Property Services
Kelly is Project Manager at Morgan Sindall Property Services overseeing the company’s approach to domestic abuse including the achievement of the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) accreditation. Kelly also co-founded the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) whose aim is to improve the housing sector’s response to domestic abuse.
Kelly’s housing experience includes roles in housing management, asylum, policy and research. She also spent time at Northumbria Police project managing a Home Office funded multi force project (Domestic Abuse A Whole Systems Approach – DAWSA) to improve the Police response to domestic abuse and oversee research into the provision of a national response to perpetrators of domestic abuse.
She has a Masters in Housing Policy and Management from Northumbria University and holds a PhD in Social Science from Durham University focusing on the role of housing in a co-ordinated community response to domestic abuse and included the largest UK questionnaire to housing providers on domestic abuse. She was named 24 Housing’s ‘Housing Professional of the Year’ 2018 for her work and research on housing and domestic abuse and was named in the top 20 women leaders in Housing in 2020.
Kelly is also author of the book, Housing and Domestic Abuse, which provides an analysis of how housing policy has been historically utilised in responding to domestic abuse.
Kelly is a trustee of the Alice Ruggles Trust, an Honorary Fellow at Durham University and a Steering Group member of the Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse (CriVA).
Donna McCarthy, Partner, Housing Management and Property Litigation
Donna heads up a team advising on all aspects of housing management law and practice, acting for Local Authorities, Registered Providers and private landlords in complex litigation, including possession proceedings; actions to restrain Anti-Social Behaviour; injunctions and disrepair actions. She also advises social landlords on matters of housing policy and procedure. She has particular specialism in matters relating to mental health, capacity and safeguarding.
Anna Bennett, Solicitor, Housing Management and Property Litigation
Anna advises and represents clients in all areas of housing management, from claims involving Anti-Social Behaviour, subletting and bogus succession claims, through to disrepair cases and leasehold queries. She has a great deal of expertise in the field, building on years of experience dealing with the whole gambit of challenges that can face Registered Providers.