From the Chair of YWCA National Housing
On behalf of YWCA National Housing and with the support of YWCA Australia, I am proud to present this report ‘Women’s Housing Needs in Regional Australia’.
Women across Australia face particular housing challenges. They experience structural barriers such as lack of pay equity, gender inequality, and interrupted or limited earning capacity due to primary caring responsibilities. Women
are more likely to experience economic insecurity as a result of relationship breakdown, separation and divorce, and they are more likely to reach retirement with much lower superannuation balances than men.
The recent impact of natural disasters including bushfires, drought and flooding, has amplified existing inequalities within our communities and added to challenges faced in regional Australia. There are enormous social and economic impacts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Domestic and family violence is increasing, home and unemployment stress is rising, and family work-life balance is upended.
First Nations women, young women, women living with disability, older women, culturally and linguistically diverse women and people working in essential services such as health and social care (the majority of whom are women), are particularly vulnerable.
The pre-COVID-9 scarcity of regional social and affordable housing for women, many of whom are escaping domestic and family violence, presents us with an increasingly alarming reality.
Our research found that one in eight women living on low to moderate incomes in regional Australia had been homeless in the past five years.
This is a shocking mirror to too many Australian women’s lives. Together, now, we have a unique opportunity. We have already proven across Australia, that a cross sectional approach during a global health pandemic, can help to solve homelessness.
This report highlights the critical and timely need for significant investment in social and affordable housing. Women in regional areas desperately need homes to call their own. Concurrent expansion of women’s specialist homelessness and housing supports are also crucial for those who are at risk of or are experiencing homelessness.
Coordinating these approaches will not only address chronic community shortages of homes and support for women, but will crucially stimulate the economy during COVID-19 towards recovery.
We welcome the opportunity to work in partnership with all levels of government, other housing providers, the private and not for profit sectors, to build positive futures and homes that women in regional Australia can call their own.
I thank our joint funder Building Better Regions Fund and our research partners for supporting this important work. I particularly want to thank all of the women who participated in this research for sharing their perspectives, insights
and experiences with us.
We will continue to work towards a future where women in all of their diversity are valued, respected, safe and secure, with equal access to opportunities, resources and a home of their own.
Helen Conway
Chair, YWCA National Housing
Download the report
Released 20 May 2020, this report outlines key housing needs and challenges for women through national quantitative and qualitative research undertaken across regional Australia.
Suggested citation: YWCA National Housing (2020) Women’s Housing Needs in Regional Australia. Melbourne, Victoria: YWCA National Housing
Download report one-pagers
- Executive Summary (PDF, 125KB)
- Key Priorities for Women in Regional Australia (PDF, 67KB)
- Young Women (PDF, 2MB)
- Older Women (PDF, 1MB)
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women (PDF, 2MB)
- Women with disabilities (PDF, 2MB)
- Women who have experienced domestic and family violence (PDF, 1MB)
- Women with children (PDF, 765KB)
- Women in remote areas (PDF, 2MB)
Download media releases
- New research reveals homelessness crisis for regional women (PDF, 190KB)
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women face homelessness crisis (PDF, 170KB)
- New research shows Gen Z and Gen Y women face housing crisis (PDF, 171KB)
- Regional women in New South Wales face homelessness crisis (PDF, 179KB)
- Northern Territory women take part in homelessness research (PDF, 171KB)
- Regional women in Queensland face homelessness crisis (PDF, 177KB)
- Regional women in South Australia face housing crisis (PDF, 177KB)
- Regional women in Tasmania face housing crisis (PDF, 177KB)
- Regional women in Victoria face homelessness crisis (PDF, 178KB)
- Regional women in Western Australia face housing crisis (PDF, 178KB)
Download infographics
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#YWCAHousingResearch #WomensHousing #WomensRegionalHousing
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Suggested caption
@YWCANationalHousing’s new research report is now available – Women’s Housing Needs in Regional Australia.
This research highlights the crucial need for investment into affordable housing in regional areas, as 1 in 8 of the women surveyed reported having been homeless in the past five years.
Find out more at www.ywcahousing.org.au/research #YWCAHousingResearch #WomensHousing #WomensRegionalHousing
Suggested caption
1 in 8 women living in regional Australia report having been homeless in the past five years. 1 in 5 knew a woman who is currently homeless.
@YWCANationalHousing’s Women’s Housing Needs in Regional Australia research report shines a light on the housing experiences of women in regional Australia, with many reporting housing and financial pressures and stress.
Find out more at www.ywcahousing.org.au/research #YWCAHousingResearch #WomensHousing #WomensRegionalHousing
Suggested caption
Women’s health and wellbeing is severely impacted by the cost of housing.
30% of women surveyed in @YWCANationalHousing’s Women’s Housing Needs in Regional Australia research had gone without meals in the past 12 months in order to make their rent or mortgage payments. Nearly half of all women had stopped heating or cooling their homes, and a third had gone without medical treatments.
Find out more at www.ywcahousing.org.au/research #YWCAHousingResearch #WomensHousing #WomensRegionalHousing
Suggested caption
@YWCANationalHousing’s Women’s Housing Needs in Regional Australia research report shines a light on the housing experiences of women in regional Australia, with many reporting housing and financial stress.
87% of women surveyed carry some level of financial stress, with more than half worrying that they could become homeless if their circumstances change.
Find out more at www.ywcahousing.org.au/research #YWCAHousingResearch #WomensHousing #WomensRegionalHousing
Suggested caption
Domestic and family violence is the leading cause of homelessness in Australia. Nearly 1 in 4 women in regional Australia reported that their finances and housing had been impacted by domestic violence.
This, and more startling statistics can be found in @YWCANationalHousing’s Women’s Housing Needs in Regional Australia research report at www.ywcahousing.org.au/research #YWCAHousingResearch #WomensHousing #WomensRegionalHousing
Suggested caption
1 in 5 women in regional Australia report that their housing is not suitable for them – like this woman whose rental property is not fully accessible for her child with disabilities.
The short supply of affordable housing in regional Australia is negatively impacting many women and their families. Find out more in @YWCANationalHousing’s Women’s Housing Needs in Regional Australia research report at www.ywcahousing.org.au/research #YWCAHousingResearch #WomensHousing #WomensRegionalHousing
Suggested caption
One in four women who experienced homelessness in the past five years, hid their homelessness from others including close family members and friends.
Women’s homelessness is often hidden, characterised by overcrowding, couch surfing, living in temporary accommodation with friends or relatives, and moving in and out of unsuitable dwellings.
Find out more in @YWCANationalHousing’s Women’s Housing Needs in Regional Australia research report at www.ywcahousing.org.au/research #YWCAHousingResearch #WomensHousing #WomensRegionalHousing
Suggested caption
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women face significant housing challenges, being much more likely to experience housing and financial difficulties when compared to non-indigenous women.
They are 2.5 times more likely to experience homelessness, twice as likely to know a woman who is currently homeless and three times as likely to have accessed emergency food relief.
Find out more in @YWCANationalHousing’s Women’s Housing Needs in Regional Australia research report at www.ywcahousing.org.au/research #YWCAHousingResearch #WomensHousing #WomensRegionalHousing
Suggested caption
Women with children experience particular financial pressures, compared to women who do not have dependent children.
More than half have asked for financial help from family or friends in the past 12 months, and three in five could not pay their utility bills on time.
Find out more in @YWCANationalHousing’s Women’s Housing Needs in Regional Australia research report at www.ywcahousing.org.au/research #YWCAHousingResearch #WomensHousing #WomensRegionalHousing
