FOLLOWING yesterday’s announcement of $925 million in federal assistance for victims of domestic violence, Mission Australia has urged governments to extend their focus prevent homelessness for those escaping abusive relationships.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday announced the funding after national cabinet discussions on strategies to combat gender-based violence and address the crisis of violence against women across Australia.
The Leaving Violence program, to be included in this month’s federal budget, will be spent over five years and give people escaping domestic violence access to payments of $5,000 in financial support, along with referral services, risk assessments and safety planning.
“As state and federal leaders work together to grapple with the alarming surge in violence against women, it’s important we recognise the critical link between domestic and family violence and homelessness,” said Sharon Callister, CEO of Mission Australia.
“Women bear a disproportionate burden of domestic and family violence, which significantly contributes to the homelessness emergency gripping our nation. The number of individuals escaping domestic and family violence and accessing Mission Australia’s homelessness services has doubled over the past three years.”
Albanese convened the national cabinet meeting after the alleged murders of 26 women at the hands of men in the first four months of 2024. Data released by the Australian Institute of Criminology this week showed the number of women killed by an intimate partner over the 2022-23 period increased by 28% to 34.
Homelessness Australia’s Homelessness and domestic and family violence: State of Response Report showed that 45% of women and girls seeking help for homelessness are doing so because of family and domestic violence.
“Every day, brave women across Australia confront the agonising choice between escaping violence and facing homelessness, or enduring unsafe and high-risk situations to avoid homelessness,” Callister said.
“Cost of living pressures, coupled with the scarcity of affordable housing and inadequate income support, compounds this horrific dilemma.
“While we welcome the additional $925 million in funding for the Leaving Violence Program, we also know that social and affordable housing – with wraparound supports as needed – is a crucial response in supporting women and their children escaping violence.
“Ensuring women have access to local, safe, secure and affordable accommodation is a key solution. We urgently need to see early and significant investment into the essential social and affordable homes required to meet growing demand.”
Supply of social and affordable homes is considered by many a major lever that must be pulled to combat the national housing crisis, which has seen house prices reach record highs, rents surging and vacancies hovering around historic lows. Mission Australia’s call comes on the eve of the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which has the aim of delivering 30,000 social and affordable homes alongside 10,000 affordable homes under the National Housing Accord Facility. The up-and-running Social Housing Accelerator is targeting 4,000 new social homes.
These are in addition to state government programs.
However, the programs will be running concurrently with National Housing Accord that promises to deliver 1.2 million “well-located homes”. That number is considered farfetched by analysts amid a severe labour shortage, current low approval rates and planning red tape, and there will be competition between that and the social and affordable housing programs for construction resources.
An Essential Research poll found nearly 70% support the Albanese government’s social housing reforms. However, some say the programs don’t go far enough, with nearly 175,000 households on a public housing waitlist in 2022, according to official data.
