AIHW HOMELESSNESS REPORT REITERATES NEED

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report into homelessness released yesterday has found that almost a quarter rough sleepers (or 23%) it surveyed experienced domestic or family violence.

Women who sleep rough are five times as likely as men to report experiencing domestic or family violence.

 

The AIHW report classifies domestic or family violence as one of the ‘vulnerabilities’ contributing to homelessness.

 

The transitional period to safe accommodation can be a particularly vulnerable time for those fleeing domestic or family violence.

 

Previous AIHW research found that domestic and family violence is the number one reason Australian women come to homelessness services for help.

 

Of the 114,757 people that sought assistance in 2016-17 from specialist providers, 40 per cent reported that they were experiencing domestic and family violence, an increase of 38 per cent from 2015-16. More than three-quarters (77 per cent) of those seeking housing assistance due to family and domestic violence were women.

 

Two-thirds of the unmet requests for housing assistance are made by women – predominantly when seeking crisis and short-term accommodation as a result of domestic violence.

 

The Turnbull Government previously cut $44 million from capital funding for safe housing options for women and children fleeing domestic violence.

 

A Shorten Labor Government will provide $88 million over two years for a new Safe Housing Fund to increase transitional housing options for women and children escaping domestic and family violence, young people exiting out-of-home care, and older women on low incomes who are at risk of homelessness.

 

If Malcolm Turnbull put half the effort into housing and homelessness that he does trying implement tax cuts for his mates at the big end of town, Australia would be a much fairer and more egalitarian place to live.