The devastating reality despite all the words from governments about action

But despite all the words from governments about action, the harsh reality is that when women flee violence into homelessness, too often they cannot regain a home, pushing them back into the path of violence. In the past year, 37,392 people who had experienced family or domestic violence came to services seeking long term housing, and only 1365 gained a home.

Short-term accommodation, like refuges, are also full. In the past two years the number of women and children sleeping rough after receiving homelessness support jumped 23 per cent. Homelessness services are simply overwhelmed, and have no housing options available.

Services are so overwhelmed that many women and children can't even get through the door. Each day homelessness services turn away 295 people; four in five of them are women or children.

The result is that women return to violent homes or never leave. In 2021, the Everybody's Home Nowhere to Go report estimated that 7690 women a year are returning to perpetrators because they have nowhere to live. The 2016 Personal Safety Survey revealed that more than 20,000 women who wanted to leave a violent partner said they were unable to go because of a lack of money or financial support.

When women return, violence escalates. Women are also at risk of further violence while homeless.

The close interaction between the increased risk of death or serious injury for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women experiencing gendered violence and lack of access to safe homes has been brought into focus in countless reports. Too often First Nations women also risk having their children removed if they cannot gain safe housing.

These are not new figures or secret data. We and others have raised these problems in the media many times, and outlined the situation in countless submissions and discussions with governments.

And ostensibly governments have heard. Both the Royal Commission into Family Violence in Victoria and the National Plan to End Violence identified a lack of access to safe, affordable housing as a major barrier to women's safety and promised action.

The devastating reality is that neither delivered real action once the launch was done and the inspiring calls for "everything to change" dissipated into the cold reality of empty action plans.

In Victoria, the commissioners called on the Victorian government to identify how many affordable homes were needed to provide safety to women fleeing violence and at risk of homelessness. The government, which had promised to deliver on all recommendations, commissioned research on housing need. The research reportedly showed that huge increases in social housing were required to keep women safe.

But the research was never publicly released. After an initial flush of short-term investment, the number of homes needed were never built, and in the past year 8509 Victorian women and children were homeless at their last contact with homelessness support.

The 10-year National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children recognised the critical link between safety and access to a safe home having heard of this link from thousands of victim survivors and sector experts. But the First Action Plan simply restated existing housing investments and included no new housing commitments.

The forthcoming 10-year National Housing and Homelessness Plan and a new five-year National Housing and Homelessness Agreement could drive transformative change to break the link between violence and homelessness.

But the National Housing and Homelessness Plan process has not embraced the opportunity. Neither the discussion paper for the National Housing and Homelessness Plan or the summary of consultations included any significant consideration of the link between violence and homelessness, or the importance of new affordable homes to women's safety.

And the federal government and their state counterparts do not seem poised to deliver a national plan that will significantly increase access to social housing, or fill the gaping holes in homelessness service delivery, or take action on the reforms needed to enable women to stay in their home and avoid homelessness.

At this stage, sector expectations are for a plan and new agreement that drives no significant change, and at best has no less money than the previous agreement. No more, despite years of double-digit rent rises and record low vacancy rates having super-charged the problems women face.

This would be a devastating blow, and a slap in the face to the thousands of women who put their stories and their pain forward in pursuit of a National Plan to End Violence that would deliver greater safety.

But perhaps this new focus on what is an old problem means that it is not too late to change course and deliver meaningful action.

The new National Housing and Homelessness Plan is not yet signed off. The states and the federal government remain deep in negotiations for the new National Housing and Homelessness Agreement. People familiar with the negotiations privately say they are at loggerheads, with each level of government blaming the other and refusing to do more.

Our leaders can forge a new path. Instead of casting blame, they can open the door to shared responsibility. If the federal government offers to double its social housing and homelessness investment, the states should match that investment. If the states take the first step, then the federal government should follow.

The new National Housing and Homelessness Plan could have meaningful targets. Such as no women and children remaining homeless after fleeing violence, and significant increases in the number of women who can achieve safety while remaining in their home.

If we are to stop the deaths of women, preventing homelessness is a critical step. Only national leadership will get us there.