Kelly is the founder and Managing Director of Addressing Domestic Abuse (ADA) – a community interest company whose aim is to support housing providers and local authorities prepare for changes in the Regulator of Social Housing’s regulatory requirements and ensure their approach is informed by survivors of domestic abuse.  ADA also works with property and repairs companies to enable staff to recognise domestic abuse.

Kelly's interest in domestic abuse started over 25 years ago as part of her university placement at a women’s refuge; her final year dissertation analysed gender differences in the charging and sentencing of domestic abuse homicides.

Prior to Kelly co-founding the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance, Kelly was the Domestic abuse and violent crime lead for a local authority, coordinating the area's Multi Agency Domestic Abuse Partnership and Violent Crime Reduction Partnership.

Kelly's has a range of housing experience including the role of Director of Housing in a London based housing organisation, and roles in asylum, the Supporting People Programme, policy and research. Her experience includes project managing a Home Office funded multi police force project (Domestic Abuse: A Whole Systems Approach - DAWSA) to improve the police response to domestic abuse and oversee research into the provision of a national response to perpetrators of domestic abuse.

She has a Masters in Housing Policy and Management and holds a PhD in Social Science from Durham University focusing on the role of housing in a co-ordinated community response to domestic abuse. She was named 24 Housing's ‘Housing Professional of the Year’ 2018 for her work and research on housing and domestic abuse and was named in the top 20 women leaders in Housing in 2020.

Kelly is a Non-executive Director of Believe Housing, a trustee of the Alice Ruggles Trust, a founding board member of Women in Social Housing (North East) and an Honorary Research Fellow at Durham University.