Newleaf International

What is Safe House?

 

Safe housing provides a means of temporary housing that is affordable and sustainable with access to a variety of community support.  This is a critical time of respite to encourage the personal growth and development to see the outcome for each person to transition to permanent housing and re-engagement in their lives, careers and community.

 

Safe Housing provides support in a temporary type of accommodation that bridges the gap from homelessness by offering structure, support, supervision, life skills through education and training.  It also provides the frame work and opportunity for woman to rebuild their networks into community and establish new friendships creating less reliance on government resources.

 

1.  Provides a "safety net" to re-established their lives and be active participants in their community.

2.  Designing and implementing programs that create transferable life and work skills

3.  Mentoring by women for women who meaningful role models

 

Safe Housing has been created to design and implement a model of best practice for women, to prevent them from returning to destructive and dysfunctional behaviours.  Each of the participants in the current Standing Tall's Program have had their careers, family and personal lives interrupted and in some instances shattered, due to domestic violence.

 

Our collective experience has taught us, that currently when women leave the Refuges/Crisis Centres, they leave without being fully equipped for independent living and are put into short term accommodation.  They are expected to get jobs and undertake courses.

 

Safe Housing is to provide a model of excellence for transitional Housing accommodation for women.  Often when woman have to leave the Crisis Centre and because of the shortage of safe housing they are faced with only three choices;

 

a)  Return to their previous abusive and dysfunctional relationship.

b)  Sleep rough

c)  Homeless

 

Safe Housing empowers women to stabilise their circumstances and prepare them to confidently move on to more appropriate long term housing.  This is an opportunity to positively contribute to improving choices for women who wish to create new life for themselves.