Perth to end Safe night Space trial for vulnerable women
A safe space that's helped keep hundreds of vulnerable women off Perth’s streets is set to close at the end of the month after the city of Perth pulled its funding. The council claims other alternatives have opened up, but community services say they're already full.
Transcript
00:00 As the sun sets over Perth, there aren't many safe places for those sleeping rough.
00:07 Spaces like this, where someone can be protected from the elements, rest up against a tree,
00:17 or more hidden in some of the other areas, are places where people will seek refuge.
00:23 For the growing numbers of women being forced onto the streets, even that can be too dangerous.
00:28 Women are less likely to be in places that have public access or are visible
00:34 because of the risk of sexual assault and sexual violence. That is the reality for women.
00:39 Since mid-2021, they've had somewhere else to go - Perth's first safe night space.
00:45 A warm place to shelter helping hundreds over the last two and a half years.
00:49 But it's set to close at the end of the month, when funding and a venue provided by the City of Perth run out.
00:55 We are seeing 30 women be able to use that space on any given night.
01:01 And without that space, we really don't know where those women are going to go.
01:06 Family and domestic violence is a major driver of women experiencing homelessness,
01:11 and RUA says that's especially the case at the safe night space.
01:15 About three quarters of women are escaping it.
01:18 Women who might soon be left with little option but to look to parks like this one for shelter.
01:25 It wasn't a case of closing it and leaving people with nowhere to go.
01:29 We were slow and methodical in working towards a closing date
01:34 so that the other facilities could pick up the slack.
01:37 And we're confident that that is what is going to happen.
01:40 We have seen extra beds in the city, but they're all being utilised.
01:44 And we're seeing homelessness services that are still having to turn people away.
01:48 So the need for this service is as great as it's ever been, if not more.
01:53 The state government agrees, saying it wants the service to continue
01:57 and will work with the City of Perth and RUA to try and make that happen.
02:01 We're talking about human beings and people's suffering,
02:04 so therefore surely it has to be all of our responsibility,
02:07 all levels of government and all levels of community.
02:10 Without a lifeline, the safe night space will close for good on November 30.
02:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]