Women fleeing domestic violence ‘trapped’ in refuges due to lack of housing, advocates say

Queensland's crisis accommodation model is leaving women with impossible choice' of secondary homelessness or returning to unsafe homes, refuge operators say

Women and children fleeing domestic violence in Queensland have spent years trapped" in refuges and other crisis accommodation due to a chronic shortage of secure long-term housing.

Community organisations that run domestic and family violence refuges say the situation creates a bottleneck in crisis accommodation - leaving vulnerable women with an impossible choice" of living for extended periods in secondary homelessness or choosing to return to unsafe or violent relationships.