This is My Place: Fatima's Story
From an article by Resonance
Resonance is a social impact property fund manager. Launched in 2002 with the mission of connecting capital to social enterprise, they are proud to be a B Corp and of their 20-year track record of impact investing. They provide life changing homes and solutions for people and communities facing crisis.
Here is the story of Fatima:
Fatima was married with three daughters and was working for the NHS in Cardiff. But sadly, throughout her marriage, she experienced domestic abuse.
"He told me that I was like a cockroach. Every time you stamp a cockroach it keeps on coming up. He didn't understand where I got the strength of getting up every time he stamped one me. Then it made sense that when he asked to divorce it was the better way for me but their was a huge cost because of not seeing my kids and raise them myself."
In 2020, during the pandemic, Fatima’s family circumstances became incredibly challenging, and her family made the decision to spend some time overseas. During this time, Fatima and her husband divorced. This had a huge impact on the family, with Fatima returning to live in the UK, unable to bring her daughters with her.
Fatima moved to Oxford upon her return to the UK but without a home to go to she was provided with temporary accommodation, for about a year, by Oxford City Council. She was then referred to Response, one of Resonance’s National Homelessness Property Fund housing partners, and in May 2023 moved into her new home, a one-bed flat in Oxfordshire. Since then, she has been supported by one of Response’s housing support workers.
Within just a few weeks of moving into her new home, Fatima was able to start looking for employment and has since secured a 30-hour a week job – again with the NHS - supporting women experiencing postnatal depression. And as she is now living in stable accommodation, this summer, Fatima’s three daughters were able to travel to the UK to spend a few weeks with her. The hope is that this successful trip will see the girls returning to spend more time with their mum again soon.
“Resonance has given me this lovely property where I can see myself safe. I can sleep. I can wake up. I have a shelter and when I step in this flat the first thing I say to myself is, ‘enough is enough’, this is the time now I need to focus on myself.”
Stable homes allow tenants to transition from homelessness to becoming part of their community, gaining employment or training, saving for their future and giving them the ability to eventually move on into their own private accommodation.
The fund has ambition to raise £300m in order to buy 1,500 properties and to house 16,000 people across the UK, over its lifetime.
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From an article by Resonance, 17/01/2024