Thousands of Aussie women trapped in ‘doom loop’ as grim new report reveals extent of homelessness crisis

The number of women and girls seeking help from homelessness services while experiencing family violence and mental health issues soared by six per cent in just two years, new data has revealed, as Australia’s peak body combatting the scourge heads to Canberra.

Homelessness Australia will present the shocking new analysis to MPs and senators in a briefing on Thursday, as policymakers discuss the next phase of the nation’s approach to homelessness.

The peak body found almost 30,000 women and girls sought help in 2024-25 for homelessness while undergoing both family or domestic violence and mental health issues.

About two in five women – or about 12,000 people – were still homeless when their support ended, rising 14 per cent in just two years.

Homelessness Australia CEO Kate Colvin said the findings revealed the “contemporary face” of Australia’s homelessness crisis – women the peak body said who were increasingly trapped in a “doom loop”.

“The person at the centre of this crisis is not who most people picture,” she said.

“These are young women who have fled a violent home and have nowhere safe to go. Without housing and without ongoing support, there is no way out.”

Ms Colvin said for too many women, it was a choice between “violence on the street or violence at home”.

“A woman may well calculate that a man offering a place to stay with strings attached is the least worst option,” she said.

“That is not a choice anyone in this country should have to make, yet we are forcing it on vulnerable women and girls every day.”

Among the women and girls to seek help is Brina, who said she had been homeless off and on since she was 14-years-old.

She said she, at times, was offered sex in exchange for a roof over her head.

“After spending 18 months in prison, I fell pregnant with my son and was placed in a hotel where there was drug use all around me.

“It gave me a safe, secure home and a solid foundation to start rebuilding my life, but just as importantly it gave me ongoing support,” he said,