The cause seems to be a combination of factors: not simply funding cuts but also the obsession with competitive tendering meaning that housing associations, who have no real experience of dealing with da, are taking over contracts, as well as random small charities with dubious expertise.
The upshot is a philosophical shift, based on the ignorance and naivety of the organisations taking on the new contracts, and perhaps also on Tory dogma, towards what is essentially care in the community.
There's nothing wrong with trying to increase support in the community, but that cannot take the place of refuges. That simply puts women and children in danger. It's nigh impossible to keep women safe in the community, where, either the abuser knows where they are or can easily find out. It's puts massive pressure on police who already struggle to deal with the level of dv as it is, it puts pressure on the women and their children who will continue to live in fear, and it means the woman is not taken out of the abusive situation and given intensive support and therapy to challenge the abusive mind-set.
There exist at least 10 dedicated gay male refuges in the UK, which gay men, like women, set up in response to a clear need. Why straight men have not done the same is unclear: there are only a limited number of dedicated places for heterosexual men, and the answer to this problem is simply to set up more straight male refuges, not penalise women's refuges who have sound reasons for not admitting men.
Ideally, we need a campaign to co-ordinate a mass demonstration by women across the country.