New South Wales not only has a housing affordability crisis, but a women’s refuge supply crisis. These safe spaces provide accommodation and support to women, with or without children, who are fleeing domestic violence.
Community organisations are enacting inventive short-term solutions to mitigate the growing issue. From April to June 2024 a three-month pilot project — which can only be detailed now — took place where women in Newcastle were provided with a safe place to sleep in their cars.
Lou Johnston from Embrace People and Place, one of the community service providers behind the project, said experts did not see this pilot as a long-term solution but as a response to the immediate crisis in the region.
