Dr Gabrielle Morrissey is the newly appointed CEO of the not-for-profit organisation, Women and Children First, on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, and after a decade abroad in the US, a failed marriage and first-hand experience of domestic abuse, Gabrielle is leading a bold new plan to help women and children escape domestic violence and abuse, quickly identifying the lack of urgent refuges and housing, as a top priority.
“Putting women and children on the street is unacceptable, but this is where many are ending up. We are in the midst of a national crisis that can’t cope with the scale of the abuse right here, right now. At our centre alone, around four out of ten women who call us every week, are being forced to flee from their perpetrators, and often their homes,” said Dr Morrissey. “We need to act now, not in months or years down the track. We need to surpass the rhetoric and nail down actual and immediate solutions.”
1 in 6 Australian women have experienced domestic and family violence (AIHW data), and it is one of the main causes of homelessness. On average, one woman is killed every week by their partner.
So dire is the situation that Dr Morrissey is calling for a full-scale National Summit to carve out innovative solutions to address the specific housing crisis impacting domestic violence victims. She wants all levels of government, communities, Domestic Violence experts, more philanthropy and corporate input, victims and reformed perpetrators, to come together, so more victims can take shelter away from their perpetrators, and literally save lives.
“Currently the plans on the table, are going to take years to implement. The resources are only helping a tiny percentage of those in need. We need a much bolder plan.”
Some of the innovative measures Dr Gabrielle Morrissey would like to see explored, include:
- A greater alignment with philanthropy (and corporates), and those who are able, to loan empty investment properties for up to six months.
- Motels providing blocks of rooms, at wholesale rates, if otherwise vacant.
- Real Estate agents prioritising victims at the top of affordable housing lists, rather than at the bottom.
- Financial and tax incentives for homeowners and Airbnb/holiday let property owners to lease.
- empty and off-season properties to domestic violence refuges to use as pop-up refuges.
- Immediate funding for every DV service to staff a housing navigator. Case workers are not real estate agents and the more time they spend trying to find housing, the less time they spend to help women rehabilitate and heal.
- Moving the mostly male perpetrators out of the homes, so the women and children can stay there instead. That is simpler solution than what is required for providing for women and especially children, who need the security of a roof over their heads, protection, stability, access to schools and a familiar environment.
- Fast track police AVO’s and court action, and increase penalties, for the most urgent cases, to exclude perpetrators from the home with an immediate jail term for breaches.
“Identifying the key issues is one thing, but finding viable solutions that work in physicality, is quite another. There are no easy solutions, but what I do know is that providing safe homes for women and children fleeing domestic violence situations is the number one priority for those in need. Currently we have nowhere for them to go,” said Dr Morrissey.
To learn more, access help, offer assistance, or make a donation, visit the Women and Children First website womenandchildrenfirst.org.au or call (02) 9971 4499 and email admin@wacf.org.au