
Emily Wheeler was an interior designer who became a social worker and started a charity called Furnishing Futures, that supplies surplus furniture to women in need, helping them build homes for themselves again.
The number of domestic abuse-related incidents recorded by the police in England and Wales increased by six per cent to the year in March 2021.
The lack of furniture in a home and basic needs has been found to drive victims back to their abusers and can impact mental health. According to data from the campaign group End Furniture Poverty, only two per cent of social rented properties in the UK are let as furnished or partly furnished.
The charity relies on donations from homeware stores that have end-of-line and surplus stock. They convert the social housing of victims of abuse into comfortable homes for women and their children.
Furnishing Futures has to date turned 18 spaces into homes for women escaping domestic violence. Wheeler plans to fundraise for a warehouse to store stock and to take on more team members so that they can support women straight away.
Bildquelle:
- Furnishing Futures: Jemma Watts