Homeless Women

The Hon. J.S. LEE (14:33): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about women affected by homelessness.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: Statistics suggest that as much as 42 per cent of the homeless population in Australia are female. They also show that homeless women are often less visible than men and that the extent to which homelessness affects women is often underestimated. Some women do not identify themselves as homeless but rather as targets of abuse unable to return to their homes. Therefore, homeless women, along with their children, tend to remain out of sight, away from areas where homeless people congregate, for fear of violence, rape or other abuse.

Shelter SA recently published the Social Impact Bonds Consultation Report. It pointed out that homelessness has been identified by the state government as one of the four focus areas for the state. However, the review findings confirmed that there is a lack of objective, high-quality evidence to support the development of the social benefits service funding concept announced by the state government. My questions to the minister are:

1. As women experiencing homelessness require specialised support services, can the minister provide assurance to women and service providers that programs addressing their particular needs will be a priority for the state government?

2. Under the social impact bonds model, there is the requirement to demonstrate cash savings to government. Does the minister know what negative impact this will have on homeless women accessing services?

3. What strategies has the minister put in place to advocate for homeless women in their most vulnerable situation?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:35): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. Indeed, the issue of housing for vulnerable women in particular is of great concern to this government. Most of the questions that the honourable member has asked reside with the Minister for Social Housing in another place, and I will be more than happy to refer those questions to her.

In relation to aspects that directly relate to my portfolio responsibilities, obviously one of the aspects that can make women particularly vulnerable to homelessness is of course domestic violence. This can see women having to take their children and remove themselves from their family home to escape from the perpetrator. They can resort to emergency housing and other safe housing, which of course is suitable for short-term emergency needs, but certainly, in the long-term, there need to be more enduring housing solutions put in place, and they are always a challenge.

I have been pleased to see the report back from the industry that the instigation of intervention orders has had a positive impact on this particularly vulnerable group. So, rather than women who are victims having to leave the family home, intervention orders can mean that women are able to be secured in the family home and the perpetrator is removed. So, that has reduced that risk somewhat—not altogether, obviously—and has had a positive impact on women's lives.

Money has been made available to help secure women in the family home, such as changing locks and putting in security doors and other things to make sure that the victim is in fact safe in the family home. It has not eliminated the requirement for emergency housing and safe housing altogether, but it has certainly reduced the demand on that to some degree.

The other area that has particularly been brought to my attention is leasing, where women are responsible for the lease of housing in either the private market or public housing, or when there is a joint arrangement. Of course, if she becomes a victim to domestic violence, it can very much limit alternative accommodation arrangements if she is bound by this contract and there are also bond obligations and other financial obligations around that. Members would be aware that I am pursuing the drafting of legislation that gives the Residential Tenancies Tribunal the powers to consider those cases and to remove women from that lease contract and make other provisions.

It will also ensure that those victims of domestic violence are not held financially responsible, through bond or other obligations, for damage incurred on a property by the perpetrator. We know that these perpetrators can be extremely manipulative and understand the power of these financial obligations over their victims. So, that is another area that I am working very hard on to again address this issue of homelessness for women who are victims of domestic violence.