Abused women in dire need

Women escaping abusive relationships are returning to violent partners due to a shortage of rental accommodation.

Women’s Refuge Collective chief executive Dr Ang Jury said the lack of safe housing options was a nationwide problem.

It is a situation she described as a ‘‘national crisis’’.

It would be ‘‘naive’’ to believe that women being cared for by refuges were not returning to abusive partners due to the lack of affordable rental properties, Jury said.

Hutt City Women’s Refuge manager Philippa Wells said women helped by the refuge were being squeezed out of the rental market.

The situation had got significantly worse over the last 12 to 18 months and was endangering women.

She was no longer confident of quickly finding long-term accommodation for women in their safe house.

‘‘Now we are having some that are staying for three to six months, that never used to happen.’’

There were five women in their safe house and a number of other women the refuge was working with who were looking for rental accommodation.

The lack of rental options makes it more likely that a woman would return to the abuser, Wells said. ‘‘We have had some that had actually given up and returned to the abuser.’’

A prolonged stay in a safe house was also disruptive for children and their schooling.

Having previously worked for the Prison Fellowship, Wells said many of the problems the refuge faced also applied to inmates.

Getting landlords to keep an open mind and not judge women referred by the refuge was not easy. There was a shortage of rental properties in the Hutt Valley and landlords were selective.

‘‘The competition for what is available privately is high and some of the rentals are now over $550 for a two-bedroom house.’’

One of the biggest barriers was getting references for tenants. The refuge supplied landlords with a reference but landlords tended to ignore them and instead look at the properties they had previously lived in.

Often it was the male who had caused problems associated with a particular property but women still carried the blame, she said.

Stigmatising women who had come from violent relationships was unfair and Wells said there needed to be a change in attitude.

Realtor John Ross said that in 38 years he had never seen the Hutt Valley rental market so tight.