Month: February 2026

Looming Funding Cliff a Family Violence Catastrophe Waiting to Happen

Posted on by Rachel Dale

Funding Cliff a Family Violence Catastrophe Waiting to Happen

CNV is calling on the Victorian Government to urgently address funding instability for specialist family violence services.
17 February 2026

As outlined in CNV’s submission to the Victorian State Budget 2026–27, the family violence sector is facing a state-level funding cut of $118 million, with critical funding due to lapse on 30 June 2026. The shortfall comes at a time when demand for family violence support is at an all-time high, compounded by the worsening housing crisis, placing women and children at even greater risk.

Cutting $118 million from the family violence sector while demand and risk are escalating is not just short-sighted, it is dangerous. Without urgent action to extend lapsing funding beyond 30 June 2026 and provide long-term, indexed investment, women and children escaping violence will face an impossible choice: homelessness or harm.

A choice between homelessness and violence is no choice at all.

The Centre for Non-Violence calls on the Victorian Government, and all levels of government to urgently:

  1. Restore and extend lapsing family violence funding beyond 30 June 2026 for family and gender-based violence primary prevention, early intervention, response and recovery
  2. Support children and young people as victim survivors in their own right
  3. Invest in safe, secure and affordable housing as a core family violence response

Family violence is the leading cause of homelessness in Australia.[i] Women and children experiencing violence make up a disproportionate share of those seeking homelessness support. In 2024-25, women accounted for around 75 per cent of adults seeking housing support as a result of family violence in Australia.[ii]

Australia’s rental crisis, characterised by skyrocketing rents, low vacancy rates and insufficient social and affordable housing, is not only pushing more people into homelessness, but also worsening family violence outcomes. As housing options shrink, specialist family violence services are spending an increasing amount of time navigating housing systems, while simultaneously facing funding uncertainty that threatens their ability to respond.

In 2024–25, CNV provided 16,422 nights of crisis and transitional accommodation to 294 women and children, with 67 nights being the average length of stay. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children, the average stay was 74 nights. Of the 294 women and children accommodated, 81 remained in crisis accommodation for up to six months due to the lack of secure, long-term housing options. These alarming figures highlight how the lack of safe, affordable housing, combined with shrinking service capacity, are undermining victim survivors’ ability to rebuild their lives.

Emergency and crisis accommodation, including motel rooms, are not adequate solutions. They are often unsafe, temporary and far from ideal for victim survivors recovering from trauma. Motels lack basic safety features, privacy and support services, and frequently force families into spaces that trigger further harm.

Without access to secure housing and adequately funded specialist support, escaping violence becomes a prolonged and dangerous ordeal. Too many women and children are left with no option but to remain in unsafe, temporary accommodation or return to violent homes simply because there is nowhere else to go.

For more than three decades, CNV has supported thousands of victim survivors to leave violent relationships and begin rebuilding their lives. But today’s housing market, marked by soaring rents, record-low vacancy rates and a severe shortage of social housing, means that leaving violence is no longer just about safety. It is about survival.

Between 70-90% of victim survivors supported by CNV say that housing affordability (soaring rental prices, mortgage stress) impacts their decision about when or whether they can safely leave. Many are forced to return to abusive relationships simply because they have nowhere else to go.

CNV’s Victorian State Budget submission makes clear that cutting $118 million from the family violence sector while demand and risk are escalating is not just short-sighted, it is dangerous.

Ending family violence requires more than crisis responses. It requires stable housing, secure funding, and the political will to ensure that every person has the right to safety, dignity and a place to call home.

ENDS

For all media enquiries, contact Rachel Dale, Media and Communications Lead at CNV via [email protected] or 0488 991 978.

[i] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, (4 December 2025), Specialist homelessness services annual report 2024–25, retrieved 4 February 2026, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/homelessness-services/specialist-homelessness-services-annual-report/contents/clients-who-have-experienced-fdsv.

[ii] Ibid.

Download CNV's Submission to the Victorian State Budget 2026-2027

Supporting victim survivors to stay in their homes

Posted on by Rachel Dale

Supporting victim survivors to stay in their homes

We unpack how a key family violence program, the Personal Safety Initiative (PSI), supports victim survivors to remain safely in their homes.
15 February 2026

For the past eight years, Gen has worked behind the scenes to help victim survivors of family violence stay safely in their own homes. As the Personal Safety Initiative Coordinator at the Centre for Non-Violence, her role sits at the intersection of safety, technology and justice: supporting victim survivors while holding people using violence to account.

The Personal Safety Initiative (PSI) is a non-crisis program that uses safety and security measures to help victim survivors to remain safely at home, deter breaches of intervention orders and support evidence collection to hold perpetrators accountable. Rather than expecting victim survivors to relocate, the PSI focuses on strengthening safety and security where victim survivors live. “Women shouldn’t have to leave their homes or their communities,” Gen says. “They should be able to stay, especially when they’re caring for children.”

Gen coordinates a highly specialised response. This can include installing CCTV and sensor lighting, coordinating bug sweeps of homes and vehicles, checking for tracking devices or dash cams, and arranging forensic sweeps of mobile phones for spyware. Importantly, the technology used must meet a high evidentiary standard. “The goal is accountability,” Gen explains. “The main focus is to capture evidence that can be used in court if an intervention order is breached.”

But the PSI is not about installing cameras by default. Assessing eligibility and suitability is a critical part of Gen’s role. She works closely with family violence practice workers to identify the specific risks each victim survivor is facing and whether PSI would meaningfully reduce those risks. “If a person using violence doesn’t know where the victim survivor is living, cameras might not make sense,” she says. “But if there’s a pattern of him tracking her down, then we think more broadly about what could help.”

Strict criteria apply. Generally, the victim survivor and person using violence cannot be living together, and a full exclusion intervention order must be in place. There are limited exceptions, where an intervention order could escalate risk. “The victim survivor also has to be prepared to report breaches,” Gen notes. “That’s not easy, and it’s something we talk through carefully.”

Gen is clear that cameras alone do not keep women safe. PSI always includes a security assessment of the home, along with safety and support planning. However, the presence of high-quality security measures can deter breaches, particularly when the person using violence would have their employment or freedom seriously affected through criminal convictions.

Since PSI began in 2017, Gen has seen the program evolve alongside broader system changes. The current housing crisis has made it much harder for women and children to relocate, increasing demand for support to remain safely at home. New funding is currently being trialled, allowing faster access to smaller interventions, such as phone or vehicle sweeps, without the full PSI process.

“It’s incredibly empowering for women to take control of their homes,” Gen says. “Many never thought they’d be able to do that.” Still, the injustice lingers. “It makes me angry when women and children experience such upheaval, but it’s happening far less often. It’s more common for the person using violence to be excluded from the home. This used to be the exception rather than the norm and it’s great to see this progress.”

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