A shocking new analysis has come out to mark International Day to End Violence Against Women, showing that only 3 per cent of women fleeing family violence received the long term housing they needed for the 2020 and 2021 financial years.
Conducted by Homelessness Australia, the analysis showed that in 2019-2020, there were 39,408 people fleeing family violence who came to homelessness services in need of long term housing and 3.1 per cent were housed.
In 2020-2021, the demand increased to 39,680 people with only 2.9 per cent housed.
Homelessness Australia chief executive Kate Colvin said: “A secure home is absolutely central to the safety of those fleeing family violence. Without a home, women and children must choose between homelessness and violence. This is not a choice anyone should have to make.”
The dismal numbers were also cross-referenced by Homelessness Australia with the demand identified in the landmark Nowhere to Go report against the Commonwealth’s commitments over the next five years.
These commitments include providing 4,000 homes over five years, or 800 per year to assist women and children fleeing violence.
However, the Commonwealth’s commitments only equate to approximately 5 per cent of what’s required since more than 16,810 homes are needed annually.
The Nowhere to Go report highlights that domestic and family violence makes a woman’s home the least safe place she can be and that getting to safety often means finding a new place to live. A lack of affordable housing therefore forces many women to choose between homelessness or returning to their perpetrator and the risk of violence.
Colvin commends the Australian governments’ recognition that housing is key to women’s safety in the national plan to end violence against women and children, but says that greater action needs to follow.
“This is a basic moral proposition. We live in one of the wealthiest societies in the world and we have all the material and financial means we need for women and children to be safe. It’s a matter of priority,” says Colvin.
“We urgently need to expand the number of properties available to women to achieve safety.”