Could real estate agents play a role in decreasing the number of women and children experiencing homelessness due to family violence?
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This question was discussed a a National Housing Conference in Melbourne earlier this month, with ideas brought back to Ballarat by homelessness sector staff who attended.
Uniting Ballarat senior manager homelessness Adam Liversage said he would like to explore the idea of working more closely with real estate agents regarding family violence and homelessness.
"What can we do to decrease the amount of women and children having to leave the family home because of family violence?," he said.
"We talked about providing real estate agents with access to tools and resources around family violence and how to deal with family violence in the real estate market.
"Is there a tool to prevent homelessness, removing the perpetrator from the property not necessarily the victim and the kids? How do we regulate the rental market?."
We have gone from being able to provide financial assistance to 50, 60 individuals over COVID to now, we can barely assist one or two a day.
- Adam Liversage, Uniting Ballarat senior manager homelessness
Family violence was the most common reason for clients presenting as homelessness seeking assistance from services during the 2020-21 financial year, according to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data.
"We talked about the presentations in the financial year from 2019-2020, 30,000 women with 12,000 children presented as homeless fleeing family violence," Mr Liversage said.
"What that equated to was across the state 160 families were placed in hotels per night with over $4 million per annum spent on crisis accommodation for those presentations."
Mr Liversage said another big takeaway from the National Housing Conference was the lack of bipartisan agreement and no state and federal government alignment in responses to homelessness.
He said conference guests were shown innovative social housing programs in areas like Vienna, Amsterdam and parts of Japan, with a need for affordable housing to be fit for purpose and energy efficient.
RELATED COVERAGE: Ballarat's rate of homelessness almost doubles Australia's average
Mr Liversage said he attended a session focused on the need to devise focused homelessness responses for the LGBTIQ+ community, with work in that space underway in Ballarat.
Hundreds of people continue to experience homelessness in Ballarat, with almost 150 households waiting for housing and support on the region's priority list, with another 41 youth households on the waiting list.
More than 200 people reporting sleeping rough or in non-conventional accommodation when presenting to the entry point for Ballarat homelessness support at Uniting in this financial year so far.
Mr Liversage said the priority list waiting numbers seem to have plateaued, which was good news, but it was a tough period for staff with government rollbacks of additional COVID-19 funding in the sector.
Many people who had been funded to stay in hotels and motels during the pandemic were now left without support, with some in tents, couch surfing or sleeping in their cars.
"We have gone from being able to provide financial assistance to 50, 60 individuals over COVID to now, we can barely assist one or two a day," Mr Liversage said.
"We spent anywhere from around $85,000 to $90,000 a month and now we are back to $12,000 a month thereabouts.
"We effectively solved homelessness during COVID. We had the resources and the money, we took everyone off the streets, people were able to afford their rentals, there were less evictions.
"We provided a response to homelessness that we have never seen before.
"It is a daily grind for our entry point and Street 2 Home staff, they are doing it hard every day.
"We are continuously giving out sleeping bags, tents, swags and pillows to people presenting as homeless because there is no other option."
Mr Liversage said community could assist with donations of sleeping bags, blankets and tents or landlords and real estate agents could reach out to offer resources.
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