A new house in St Albans will soon be a safe home for a family fleeing domestic violence.
The project, two years in the making, is a collaboration between Women’s Property Initiatives (WPI), building group Grocon,
the state government and philanthropic donors.
The house, the shell of which was used as a stage at the 2015 Big West Festival, is nearing completion.
State Housing Minister Martin Foley, who visited the site last week, said such projects were crucial for vulnerable families.
“If we can keep women in their own community safely and with decent housing and support, we can avoid the trauma that comes so much with family violence,” he said.
“So often women are dislocated from their communities, shifted from one side of town
to the other and their kids taken out of
school.”
He said that what the royal commission into family violence had described as a spiral of disadvantage could be remedied with better housing options.
Once completed, the house will become a home for a woman and her two children. The WPI is planning similar projects for other parts of Melbourne.
Mr Foley praised the work of the WPI in getting the house built, and also its work in preventing further displacement in communities affected by domestic violence.
“Sadly, the need for these houses continues to grow, but the work of the WPI … is something that has well and truly been [well] received by government,” he said.
“We look forward to not just this home being delivered, but many more projects in the coming years.”
