'Nowhere To Go' Equity Economics report says women return to violent partners due to lack of social housing

The 'Nowhere To Go' Equity Economics report estimates that a lack of long term social housing is leading to 7690 women a year returning to violent partners and 9120 women a year becoming homeless.

The report commissioned by homelessness campaign Everybody's Home found family and domestic violence was the leading cause of homelessness for women and children.

Nova for Women and Children CEO Kelly Hansen said this issue is one her organisation had been concerned about for years, and even more so now with the pandemic-induced housing crisis.

"Whenever we've had funding towards domestic and family violence, one of the things I've always stated is it becomes useless if there's no housing attached," she said.

"If women and women and children can't access housing it becomes very difficult to continue to provide support to them and often women will go back to their partner."

Ms Hansen said domestic violence was on the increase, and there was "major concern" during lockdown about how women and children could access safety. Since then the service has noticed an increase in reporting and in the number of people contacting Nova.

In the recent financial year ending June 30, Ms Hansen said the targeted number of people Nova was funded by the Department of Communities and Justice to work with in Newcastle's western suburbs was 758.

"We've worked with 1163 women and children," she said. "The last year was 926."

At their Lake Macquarie service, they were funded for 291, but worked with 420.

"We're actually at our wits' end," Ms Hansen said.

Ms Hansen said while more social housing was vital to helping the problem, there needed to be more crisis accommodation options provided in the interim.

"In the past 12 months, we've worked with women living in cars," she said. "We need to do something now."

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