NSW Minister for Women, Seniors and the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Jodie Harrison with SAHSSI CEO Penny Dorday. Photo: Jen White.
A new refuge for women and children escaping domestic violence will be up and running in the Illawarra by mid-2025.
The eight-unit complex, operated by Supported Accommodation and Homelessness Services Shoalhaven Illawarra (SAHSSI), will house women, children and their pets and be supported by community volunteer groups.
During their stay, the families will be supported so that within five to six weeks they are confident to move into transitional or long-term housing.
The refuge will be funded under the third and final round of the NSW Government’s Core and Cluster program.
NSW Minister for Women, Seniors and the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Jodie Harrison visited SAHSSI’s Wollongong office on Wednesday (27 November) to announce $83.4 million funding for the program statewide, which will deliver 10 new refuges, supporting more than 500 women and children.
“The Core and Cluster model provides women and children with the dignity and the separate spaces that they need to properly heal, but also provides them with the support that organisations like SAHSSI are so good at providing, that trauma-informed case management and assistance for women in rebuilding their lives,” she said.
SAHSSI CEO Penny Dorday said it was a vital program which delivered dignity for women who were escaping violence, who felt isolated and alone.
“We know that women in the Illawarra consistently have to choose to remain with their violent partner, rather than be able to leave, because there are just no places for them to go and no safe outlets,” she said.
“This will provide eight families in the Illawarra with a safe place to go with everything that they need.
“The program, rather than hiding women away in a refuge, provides them with a home and brings the support in.
“Rather than saying no-one in or out and making the woman feel punished, this program says that the community is here to support her and her children, and it’s a model that is delivered together with the community.
“The community knows it’s there and protects it as a result.
“We believe that women and children deserve the absolute best, whether they’re escaping domestic violence or buying a brand new home for themselves.
“All women and children deserve to have a great home, a safe and affordable home that they can live in and thrive in.
“Whether it’s an emergency accommodation, crisis, transitional or long term, we’re really looking to design and build homes for women and their children, for them to thrive in our community.”
SASSHI has bought an existing place which will be renovated to provide the eight fully self-contained units, one of which will have full disability access, as well as a creche, landscaped yards with play areas and a communal area.
“We will have a core building which will have meeting rooms, a common area for socialising, so people can retreat to their own two-bedroom apartment, but also come back in to socialise, talk to each other, do programs, learn and engage,” Penny said.
“We’ll have play groups and playgrounds and everything that women need to recover and children need to feel like they’re having a holiday.”
Penny said the organisation was working on a volunteering strategy, where people who have been vetted would work with the women as a kind of mentor and build connections “for when little things go wrong”.
She said groups such Rotary, Lions and older women networks raised money to help support SAHSSI, but they were also keen to provide practical help.
“To be able to have some of those people who’ve got brilliant life experience coming in and providing things like cooking demonstrations, mentoring, helping out – we want to be able to provide some great opportunities for them to help the women and their children.”
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