Homes needed for victims of domestic violence across Randwick
AFFORDABLE houses may soon be provided to domestic violence victims in a radical plan to deal with overcrowding in emergency refuges.
Southern Courier
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AFFORDABLE houses may soon be provided to domestic violence victims in a radical plan to deal with overcrowding in emergency refuges.
Randwick Council was investigating a proposal to allocate a percentage of its affordable houses to local women and children, Mayor Lindsay Shurey said.
The proposal would support women to transition from emergency refuges to more stable medium-term accommodation.
“I’ve had many discussions with support service providers for domestic violence and one of the challenges they are facing is having to turn women and children away,” Cr Shurey said. “They don’t have enough space.”
Families were crowding emergency centres because of the difficulties in securing housing in the private rental market. “This is a new approach for local government and I believe a first in the state,” she said.
The proposal comes after the council committed to increase funding to outreach workers over the next five years. There were 373 domestic violence reports made in Randwick between 2016 and 2017.
“Domestic violence is the greatest social challenge of our time ... we have a long way to go but we’re moving in the right direction.”
Randwick operates 20 affordable housing homes specifically for its essential services workers and is expecting another 10 soon.
A further 200 could be provided as part of the council’s K2K strategy in the Kingsford and Kensington town centres, currently awaiting final determination.
People fleeing domestic violence may apply for assistance from Housing NSW but timely access to medium-term accommodation remains an issue.
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