Victorians fleeing family violence are waiting almost two years for public or social housing, with advocates concerned the delay could force people to chose between remaining with an abuser or becoming homeless.
Data from the latest Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) annual report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, shows the average wait time for “public rental housing” for people fleeing family violence is 23.6 months, up from 17.1 months recorded in 2021-22. In 2020-21, that waiting time was 11.1 months.
The department is meant to prioritise access to housing for vulnerable Victorians, including those who are homeless, have a disability or are escaping family violence. It aims to find them a place to live within 10.5 months.
But the report showed the average wait time for all priority applicants was 18.1 months, an increase of more than three months since 2021-22.
The department has blamed both waitlist blowouts on “sustained demand for social housing following the Covid-19 pandemic, and less renters moving out”.
As of June, there were 65,195 Victorians on the public housing wait list, with more than 55% (36,690) being priority applicants. Those figures have remained steady since the previous year.
In 2020 the then premier, Daniel Andrews, announced the $5.3bn “big housing build” to rectify decades of under-investment in social housing. At the time, he said it would add 12,000 social and affordable homes to the state’s housing stock.
But the pace of the rollout remained slow. There were 88,189 social housing dwellings in Victoria, which was short of the department’s 2022-23 target.
The total number of homes was a net increase of just 1,376 since 2018 – though there were 1,302 extra homes since 2021-22.
The department credits this to the completion of several large-scale projects, including 200 homes in Ascot Vale, 178 in Ashburton and 130 in Heidelberg. It said more homes would be completed in Brighton, Flemington and Prahran at the start of 2024.
The opposition’s housing spokesperson, Richard Riordan, said it was “unacceptable” the waitlist remained stubbornly high despite the government’s “massive” investment in social and affordable housing.
“They’re having this big cash splash and there’s no evidence it’s actually making an impact,” Riordan told Guardian Australia.
He said it “beggars belief” that women fleeing domestic violence were being forced to wait up to two years for housing.
“I’ve spoken to several women on the wait list who say they are being forced to chose between living in a caravan or a motel or have to go back to their abuser. It’s not right,” Riordan said.
Kate Fitz-Gibbon, from Respect Victoria and Monash University’s Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, said “access to safe and suitable housing was critical for victim-survivors at the point of relationship separation”.
“We need to ensure that victim-survivors are not being asked to choose between staying in an abusive relationship or experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness,” Fitz-Gibbon said.
Tom Johnson, the acting chief executive of the Council to Homeless Persons, said it was important to note that many women escaping family violence did so with children.
“When you don’t have a home and you’re a parent, it also means you’re not connected to a school zone, you might not have a kitchen. You might be in a temporary motel accommodation and it can be even harder to maintain sleep schedules for your kids,” Johnson said.
“Every task of parenting is made so much harder, let alone focusing on recovering from your experience of family violence.”
He said 33% of people who seek assistance from specialist homelessness services cite family violence as their main reason.
“It’s crystal clear. We have nowhere near enough social housing for homes for women and children escaping family violence,” Johnson said.
The council is part of a coalition of housing groups urging the state government to create 60,000 additional social housing units over the next decade.
• In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org
