What we do...
Star Support is a new London-based refuge and community support service for LGBTIQ+ survivors of domestic abuse. We’re here to support London's queer community by providing safe accommodation, community-centred support and advice.
Our mission is to ensure that LGBTIQ+ survivors have access to safe accommodation and that their voices, needs and experiences are heard and understood. We aim to achieve this by providing safe accommodation, amplifying the voices of LGBTIQ+ survivors in terms of housing-related support, developing evidence and insight and delivering education and best practice.
Star Support is a by-and-for service. This means that our services are founded by LGBTIQ+ people with lived experience of domestic violence and homelessness. They are delivered by LGBTIQ+ people, for LGBTIQ+ people.​
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Scroll down to learn more about what we do...
Star Refuge is a new accommodation service based in London. Star Refuge provides a safe place to stay and specialist support for LGBTIQ+ people experiencing domestic abuse. Each resident of Star Refuge receives time for rest and recovery, a co-developed support plan, access to community support groups and therapeutic activities.
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Referrals to Star Refuge are made through our partner organisations or through our weekly community support group, Star Lounge. Star Lounge takes place every Thursday at The Outside Project LGBTIQ+ Centre in Borough. If you are an LGBTIQ+ person experiencing domestic abuse and are in need of accommodation support, please register to attend our community support group, Star Lounge (details below).
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Star Lounge is our weekly community support group for LGBTIQ+ people experiencing domestic abuse. This group runs every Thursday between 10:30-16:00 at The Outside Project LGBTIQ+ centre in Borough. This is a great space to come and meet new people from the LGBTIQ+ community, improve safety and work towards recovery. At Star Lounge we also take referrals for our accommodation service, Star Refuge.
Each week at Star Lounge we run a variety of creative and therapeutic sessions. This includes monthly visits from Open Barbers and a reflexologist who offers reiki and head massage and regular art/craft activities. If you would like to attend Star Lounge, please register your interest:
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We offer some advice in relation to people’s accommodation. We also work closely with a number of partner organisations and may refer people to their services to ensure they receive effective support.
Star news
Have a look at what we have been doing recently...
18th March 2024
Launch of the London Queer Housing Coalition
We are excited to announce the launch of the The London Queer Housing Coalition 🎉 We’re part of this new steering group made up of by-and-for LGBTIQ+ housing and homelessness organisations working together to make London more inclusive and accessible for all LGBTIQ+ people. The coalition includes Star Support, Stonewall Housing, The Outside Project, First Brick, Micro Rainbow, Tonic and akt.
We have written our Manifesto for the upcoming Mayoral election, which you can read here. We have sent each Mayoral candidate a copy and are keenly awaiting their responses!
27th February 2024
A visit from the Deputy Mayor of London for Housing and Development, during LGBT+ History Month
Staff from Star Support, Strides and The Outside Project with Tom Copley, (Deputy Mayor of London) sitting in Cary's Space - the Star Refuge recovery room
We marked LGBT+ History Month with a visit from Tom Copley, Deputy Mayor of London for Housing and Residential Development last week.
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Tom met the Star Support team and some of our residents at Star Refuge to find out more about our new specialist service for LGBTIQ+ survivors of domestic abuse. We were also joined by members of our partner organisations, the Outside Project and Strides. We spent the morning talking about the prevalence and effect of domestic abuse presents on our community and the intrinsic role by-and-for LGBTIQ+ domestic abuse services play in recovery. ​
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It was great to come together shortly after opening the UK’s first by-and-for LGBTIQ+ domestic abuse accommodation scheme and community support service!
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We would like to thank the Mayor’s Office for their support and for making it possible to open this new and essential service. We believe that all LGBTIQ+ survivors should have access to specialist and community-centred recovery. As we grow, we aim to offer our service to many more survivors in the UK, while continuing to fight for equality and inclusion within broader domestic abuse services.