Dalton Calls For Urgent Housing Investment For Domestic Violence Survivors

On the back of International Women’s Day, Independent Member for Murray, Helen Dalton has called for urgent investment in housing for domestic violence survivors.

Helen recently met with Griffith domestic violence advocate, Sophie Bosic and survivor, Amber (not her real name) who was forced into living in her car with her young family because there simply wasn’t anywhere for her to go.

Sophie discovered how dire Amber’s situation was when Linking Communities Network and the Women’s Refuge could not find any accommodation for the family in Griffith or Leeton.

After driving across the countryside and spending too many nights in her car, Amber has since moved to Sydney to try to get Legal Aid and a better chance of accommodation.

Helen said the dire situation for survivors was made even worse by affordable accommodation, like caravan parks, being fully booked by tradies and other workers.

“It is heartening to hear some funding has been granted for additional crisis accommodation in Griffith under the Domestic and Family Violence Fund, taking the number of beds from 18 to 40, but this barely scratches the surface of an endemic problem,” Helen said.

Across NSW there were 31,775 recorded incidents of domestic violence-related assaults in the 12 months to June 2022, and in the five years to December 2021, there were 137 domestic violence-related murders.

It is a well-known fact that domestic violence rates were higher in rural areas.

“Since posting about Amber’s plight on Facebook, Sophie has received messages from a number of women, all confirming how hard it is to find help due to a lack of resources,” Helen said.

“One woman is still in unstable accommodation three years after leaving a DV situation.

“We can’t continue to brush this issue under the carpet.

“We need all aspects of government to sit down and come up with accommodation solutions immediately, survivors should not be sleeping in their cars.”

• Topics:

• Women
• Health & Wellbeing