ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the apotheosis of the idea of appropriateness. The original intention of Stephen Ross MP, who initiated the homelessness legislation, was that there should be no doubt that battered women should be regarded as homeless under the 1985 Act. Further research suggests that women and men have different conceptions of ‘house’ and ‘home’, which can be related to the causes of violence to women. A person was deemed to be homeless if ‘it is probable that occupation of will lead to violence from some other person residing in it or to threats of violence from some other person residing in and likely to carry out the threats’. Whereas, in relation to racial harassment, inter-agency cooperation had been stimulated by a series of Home Office research reports and the role of other organizations, such as the Runnymede Trust, the process had a different genesis and mode of operation in relation to violence to women.
