West London will soon be welcoming a first-of-its-kind building, as Brook House in Acton is set to become the first women-only apartment block in the UK. Designed to provide women and domestic abuse survivors a safe and secure place to call home; Brook House will feature 102 ‘genuinely affordable’ flats for local women to rent.
The new housing block is currently under construction and the apartments are set to be ready to rent by next summer. The flats will be exclusively for women, providing a ‘lifeline’ to those who are currently struggling to find a home. And seeing as there are currently over 600 single women on Ealing Council’s housing waitlist; the apartment block can’t come soon enough.
The cost of renting an apartment inside Brook House will supposedly be – on average – less than a quarter of the price of privately renting an equivalent-sized home.
The development is being led by Women’s Pioneer Housing (one of just two UK housing associations to offer women-only homes) and L&Q (one of the country’s largest social housing providers). The block will replace a 39-home estate that previously occupied the site, so this development will more than double the affordable housing offering. The Brook House development will also see improvements made to the landscaping and biodiversity, providing the residents with safe and secure access to outdoor space, too.
Ealing Council Leader, Councillor Peter Masonsaid: “The 102 new flats being built at Brook House will provide a safe, secure, genuinely affordable place to call home for some of the hundreds of women on the waiting list for social housing in our borough.
“Many of the homes will be let to women who have experienced domestic abuse and other dangers. There is a big need for this type of specialist women-only accommodation. The flats will be a lifeline for women who are unable to privately rent.”
