SA Women’s Legal Service CEO Zita Ngor told InDaily that over the past month the community legal service had been “inundated” with calls from women experiencing domestic violence who were still living with the perpetrator.
She said in an increasingly tight market with tough competition for houses, women experiencing domestic violence felt unable to leave when they had no certainty about where they were going to sleep from day to day.
Between May 1 to June 6 this year, 342 women sought help from the SA Women’s Legal Service, of which 43 per cent were living at home with a domestic violence perpetrator.
Ngor said that rate had tripled from the same time last year, with housing availability and affordability cited by women as the top barrier preventing them from leaving.
“For a woman to make a decision to leave any kind of relationship, even if it is abusive, there are a lot of factors that she needs to take into account, particularly if she’s got children that she cares for,” Ngor said.
“I think it’s a situation of a perfect storm at the current moment with the rising cost of living, housing crisis, coupled with the personal situation of women, particularly when they are caregivers.”
Excerpt from the InDaily article ‘Housing crisis raises risk for domestic violence victims’ by Stephanie Richards – linked below