Refuges like ours will close. Women will have no choice but to face more violence | Amber Lone

We provide a lifeline for black and minority ethnic women fleeing domestic abuse, but if government funding changes go through, I don't know how long we'll last

" Amber Lone is a violence against women and girls advocate at Asha

I work at Asha, a specialist voluntary organisation that provides refuge spaces to 19 women from black and minority ethnic communities in three refuges in south London. Two of our refuges are for women and children, one is for young women. But we don't see ourselves surviving if government plans to stop women fleeing abusive partners from using housing benefit to pay for accommodation in refuges goes ahead.

We are six members of staff, three of which are part-time. In the past, we have offered in-house counselling and dance and movement therapy, and had a children's worker. Now we signpost women to dwindling services, some of which are inappropriate or unable to provide the support needed, or have such a backlog that women can be waiting the majority of their six-month stay for an initial assessment.

Women will return to their abusers. We have retreated to a Dickensian parody

Related: 'Every refuge will close': what funding changes could mean for women