New funding for crisis housing

The Albanese Labor Government is backing those that help our most vulnerable Australians with $300 million in new grant funding for crisis and transitional housing. The Minister for Housing and Homelessness Clare O’Neil today joined Minister for Social Services, Tanya Plibersek and leaders from the crisis housing sector to announce the funding through the Housing Australia Future Fund will deliver 500 additional homes and support 19,000 vulnerable Australians.

This new investment is in addition to projects already approved through the crisis and transitional stream. In total it will support more than 50,000 women and children escaping domestic violence, and young people at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness. After a decade of neglect by the Coalition which saw close to no funding for crisis housing, demand is high.

Which is why the Albanese government has worked closely with the sector and is converting concessional loans through the Fund to new grants. This gives providers the certainty and flexibility to take on new projects and deliver more homes – faster. Projects will be delivered by a mix of providers, including state governments, community housing providers and First Nations organisations.

This funding is a key part of the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children and builds on the Albanese Labor Government’s $47 billion Homes for Australia plan, which includes: Housing Australia will work with the sector to assess existing applications to the fund to fast‑track approvals and deliver more homes for vulnerable Australians where they’re needed.

“For too long, if you were fleeing violence or sleeping rough, you were on your own. Not anymore. “We’re backing the people on the ground doing this work, because every Australian deserves somewhere safe to call home.” “We’ve got a housing crisis 40 years in the making.

For too long, our nation hasn’t built enough homes of any kind, but the shortage we’re most concerned about is crisis housing, for Australians facing homelessness at the toughest moment of their lives. “Women and children fleeing family violence. Young people with nowhere safe to sleep.

Too many of them will go without stable housing tonight, and that shouldn’t happen in a country like Australia. “That’s a failure of government in this country – and that’s why we’re standing up and doing something about it.” “Too often we ask ‘why didn’t she leave?’ when we should have asked, ‘where would she go?’ We know that safe housing is absolutely critical to help women and children leave violence.

That’s why we are building more than ever before. “This new investment will give thousands of women and children the opportunity to leave, find safety and live in a home where they can be safe and rebuild their lives. “While there is still work to be done, this new funding together with our record support for frontline services, the Leaving Violence Program, and prevention programs aimed at addressing violence before it starts, are helping create real and lasting change.” “Crisis and transitional housing isn’t just changing lives.

It’s saving lives. “We’re already building nearly 1,000 homes for women, children and young people in need. “Our homelessness services work so hard to support people when they need it most, and through this investment we will help them do so much more.”