New high-security shelters for women in crisis to sit empty during family violence epidemic

Nearly 30 high-security units for sheltering women at high risk of death by family violence will stand empty after the state government refused to fund their operating costs.

Construction of the 28 crisis shelter units – expected to house more than 1000 women and children a year – is under way in Melbourne’s north after the federal government provided $7.8 million in July 2024 to Victoria’s 24/7 domestic violence response service, Safe Steps.

Safe Steps chief executive Chelsea Tobin inside ‘Sanctuary’, which temporarily houses women and children experiencing family violence.Credit: Eddie Jim

The May state budget did not include the $3.9 million in operational funding for the new units for 2025-26 or the $9.6 million in ongoing funding requested by Safe Steps.

As a result, the apartments will sit empty during a housing crisis, Safe Steps chief executive Chelsea Tobin said.

A Victorian government spokesperson said that since the federal government funded the construction of the apartments, “they should fully fund it to become operational”.

The construction money was granted after a string of brutal deaths in 2024 prompted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s rapid review into addressing gendered violence.

It allowed Safe Steps to expand its wraparound pilot service, Sanctuary, from seven apartments to 35, adding 120 places for women and their children to stay for three weeks while they are connected with safe accommodation, social services, education and employment.

Independent analysis of Sanctuary’s first year, 2023-24, found it saved Victorian taxpayers $100 per night per client compared to putting women and children in motels, which are currently used to cover the large gap in crisis refuge places in Victoria. It found 98 per cent of those who stayed there did not return to violent – and potentially deadly – homes.

Many women admitted to Sanctuary had already been seriously injured by their partners and were sent to the comprehensive refuge, which has in-house nurses, directly from hospitals.

Tobin said the project helped get women and children out of motels, where many reported suicidal ideation while isolated for up to two weeks “with four walls and their thoughts”.

Tobin says 90 per cent of callers seeking crisis help reported they had experienced strangulation.Credit: Eddie Jim

“It makes no logical sense to put somebody in a motel: it costs $840 a night, and 93 per cent of critical incidents involving multiple emergency services – including suicide, self-harm and child abduction – happen in motels,” Tobin said.

About 200 to 300 women and children stay in Victorian motels per night, having fled violence, she said.

“Last year, 90 per cent had experienced strangulation, and 38 per cent had active suicidality, and 43 per cent of people who stay with us are children. Putting them in motels is an inappropriate response in a high-risk situation.”

Sources in the Victorian and NSW governments have expressed frustration over the diversion of federal funding from a national partnership on domestic violence funding that will cut cash to the states after a string of femicides this year.

Although the Commonwealth has increased funding to other family violence initiatives, it will put an average of $5.4 million less per year into the next five-year partnership, equating to a $2 million drop for Victoria and a $3 million drop for NSW in the first year.

The state government spokesperson said it was disappointing that the National Partnership Agreement cut funding to Victoria, “limiting the capacity of the State to fund the shortfall on Federal projects”.

“It is wrong to say there is no new funding for family violence in this budget,” the spokesperson said. “We have invested more than any other state or territory to end men’s violence and we continue to fund important work changing laws, changing culture and delivering more support for victim-survivors of family violence.”

The government spent $250 million to deliver safer refuge and crisis accommodation across Victoria, including 22 core and cluster refuges and purchasing six crisis properties.

But senior sector leaders, who wished to remain anonymous because funding is politically sensitive, said it was remarkable that the government dedicated $727 million to building 1000 new prison beds and 88 youth justice beds, when money spent on services for child family violence victims could reduce the risk of them using violence in their relationships later in life.

After the budget, Tania Farha, chief executive of Safe and Equal (formerly Domestic Violence Victoria), called on the state government to urgently increase funding to front-line family violence services.

Family violence was at “an all-time high in our state”, as the number of incidents attended by police rose 11.3 per cent in 2023-24, she said.

“It’s beyond a crisis, it’s a catastrophe,” she said. “If we are serious about addressing this, we cannot afford to go backwards or tread water, we need increased, secure and sustained funding for our sector into the future.”

Longtime social policy researcher Elena Campbell, who was on the family violence rapid review committee, said the review identified that recovery from experiencing family violence is an essential part of prevention.

“I would emphasise particularly the impact on children and young people, so often overlooked in our responses: we need investment in their recovery as well as their immediate safety because otherwise their experiences of trauma are likely to put greater financial demands on the state’s economy in the years ahead,” she said.

Commissioner Micaela Cronin, from the federal government’s domestic, family and sexual violence commission, visited Sanctuary and said she was impressed by the improvement it showed in outcomes for victim-survivors and the reduced churn of people back into the response system.

“The data [Sanctuary’s independent analysts, Urbis] are reporting is good, they are getting better outcomes. They are helping navigate people through to stability and safety … this kind of model needs to be invested in broadly,” she said.

“It’s important for the Commonwealth and the states to work together to make these services work.”

The partnership agreement provides $365.9 million to states and territories to direct into operational funding of local services.

In its review of Sanctuary’s first year, Urbis found 98 per cent of 300 victim survivors who received comprehensive support there went on to secure accommodation, and had connected with other agencies to help transition to independent lives. Only one returned to the perpetrator.

Support is available from SafeSteps on 1800 015 188 or from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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