When home is where the harm is: Why housing is a domestic and family violence issue

Homelessness doesn’t always look like sleeping on the street. For many women, it looks like staying in a home where they are unsafe because there is nowhere else to go.

This Homelessness Week, WAGEC is calling for a shift in how we understand homelessness.

Because if we want to end homelessness for women, we need to recognise a critical truth: housing and domestic and family violence are deeply connected.

The question we need to ask is: where can she go?

One of the questions we often hear is: “why doesn’t she just leave?”

It’s a question that places the focus on a woman’s decision to leave, rather than the barriers that can make leaving incredibly difficult.

The reality is that leaving violence is not always as simple as walking away.

For many women, leaving can mean losing their home, their community, their children’s school, and the stability they have worked to maintain. It can mean the frightening reality of having nowhere safe or affordable to go.

When safe housing isn’t available, women are forced into choosing between staying with violence or experiencing homelessness.

No woman should have to make that choice.

Domestic and family violence is the leading cause of homelessness for women

Around 45 per cent of women seeking homelessness support identify domestic and family violence as a contributing factor.

Behind every statistic is a woman trying to find safety. A mother trying to protect her children. A person trying to build a life free from violence.

Yet housing and domestic and family violence are still too often treated as separate issues. They are not. Housing is a domestic and family violence issue.

The housing crisis is making it harder to leave violence

Australia’s housing crisis is creating additional barriers for women experiencing violence.

With a shortage of affordable housing, long waits for social housing, and homelessness services operating under increasing pressure, many women are left without realistic options when they decide to leave.

For some, a friend’s couch may be the only alternative. For others, temporary accommodation may provide short-term safety but no pathway to a secure home.

Without safe, affordable and stable housing, leaving violence becomes harder.

Housing is not just about having a roof over your head. It is about safety, dignity, and giving women and children the opportunity to recover and rebuild.

What we see on the frontlines

Every day, WAGEC supports women and children experiencing domestic and family violence and homelessness.

Our frontline teams see the reality behind the statistics: women who want to leave, who are making plans for safety, who are working towards a future without violence – but who need somewhere safe to go.

The barriers women face are not a lack of courage or determination.

They are systemic.

When housing systems and domestic violence responses are disconnected, women are left to navigate gaps between services at the moment they need support most.

That is why we need a response that recongises the connection between violence and housing.

It’s time to connect housing and domestic violence policy

Ending women’s homelessness requires more than responding after crisis occurs. It requires prevention. It requires investment in safe and affordable housing. It requires systems that understand that housing is a fundamental part of safety for women experiencing violence.

This Homelessness Week, WAGEC is calling for action that reflects the reality women face every day.

Because home should be a place of safety, not a place where harm continues.

Housing is a domestic and family violence issue. And until every woman has somewhere safe to go, we must keep pushing for homelessness action now.