Forty new projects to provide emergency accommodation for people fleeing domestic violence have been announced by the Commonwealth.
The projects to be funded under the $60 million Safe Places Emergency Accommodation fund will see new two- and three-bedroom homes built, office buildings transformed into self-contained apartments, and small group homes established.
Applications for the Safe Places Emergency Accommodation fund – which forms part of the $340 million the Commonwealth has invested in the Fourth Action Plan of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010–2022 – closed in February after a deadline was pushed back because of the summer bushfires.
The new projects are expected to deliver 700 new accommodation places.
Federal Assistant Minister for Community Housing, Homelessness and Community Services Luke Howarth said: “These [new places] will not only ensure women and children have somewhere safe to sleep but will also provide access to specialist family and domestic violence services to help create real and lasting change in their lives”.