When Megan's ex-husband locked her and her children out of their house, the mother-of-two suddenly had no home and no source of income.
She said her family had been working and living on the farm in rural Victoria for more than a decade, until her ex-husband became increasingly abusive because of financial pressures.
All of a sudden homeless, Megan and her children walked for two hours to reach the nearest police station with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
"I just focused on getting the police officer's help … to go back to the house so we could get my son's school uniforms and books," Megan, who is using a pseudonym in this story to protect her identity, said.
"And I needed to get my cancer medication as I was getting my nutrients through a feed tube."
Megan said her ex-husband soon emptied their joint bank account, forcing her and her children to sleep in their car and at friends' homes for several weeks.
"He'd do silly things to show he was watching, like at one place where we were staying he'd take one of my son's work boots … to show he had control," she said.
Over the past decade, Megan and her children moved from one location to another to distance themselves from the harassment.
Despite starting a job at a pet shop in Melbourne's west — while her two children worked part-time — Megan struggled to secure a rental nearby after applying for more than 80 apartments.
As they have been on rolling temporary visas since migrating from New Zealand in the early 2000s, they also weren't eligible for social housing.
Finally, after calling several support services, the family was referred to McAuley Community Services for Women and provided crisis accommodation.
Rental squeeze affecting more single parents
Jocelyn Bignold, CEO of McAuley, said a lack of government funding for social and affordable housing, population growth, and cost-of-living pressures have all contributed to the rental squeeze.
Single mothers are particularly vulnerable, making up the majority of the 360 women who took up McAuley's family crisis accommodation last year.
"The housing crisis is probably the worst that I've ever seen it and I've been in this sector for about 30 years," Ms Bignold said.
To make matters worse, Sarah Toohey, CEO of the Community Housing Industry Association of Victoria, said single parents — particularly women fleeing violence and lacking rental history — were likely to face discrimination in the private rental market.
"Real estate agents will generally prioritise a dual income or [family with] no children because they are a more secure bet," Ms Toohey said.
She said there should be a fairer ballot system, but acknowledged the challenges of convincing real estate agents to adopt it.
In 2022-23, single parents made up the biggest proportion — about 35 per cent — of the 273,600 people who accessed homelessness services across the country, according to recent data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
And just under half reported experiencing family and domestic violence.
Ms Toohey highlighted the "triple whammy" of discrimination faced by single mothers: reduced income due to caregiving, stricter rental terms from landlords based on unfounded assumptions of unreliability, and the challenge of rising living costs.
"Even if they can afford a rental, they are less likely to be allocated that rental, so we see a huge squeeze on single parents, and that has a flow through to women experiencing family violence and their willingness to leave a violent situation."
Earlier this month, the federal government announced it would spend more than $925 million over the next five years to provide people with financial assistance to help them escape family violence.
This includes a one-off payment of $5,000, of which $1,500 is in cash and $3,500 comes on a pre-paid card for goods and services.
But frontline services say it's not enough and a longer-term solution is needed.
"The current rental market is so precarious, and so hard to get into that we need to make sure the government's investments are backed up by a long-term growth strategy for social and affordable housing," Ms Bignold said.
Ms Bignold said women from diverse backgrounds may also need additional support due to language barriers, visa challenges or cultural stigma around divorce.
She said interpreters from the same cultural background as the victim-survivor could help to build trust and pass on advice on the best interventions.
Employed people also facing homelessness
Theresa, who works part-time as a home care support worker,has also struggled to find a rental where she could live with her daughter and grandchildren.
After Theresa's daughter fled domestic violence, she and her children sought refuge by moving into Theresa's shared apartment in Melbourne's south-east.
But the family found themselves homeless after being asked to leave the rental.
While Theresa's daughter moved into a caravan,Theresa found crisis housing through her local church.
She has been applying for private rentals since last year without success.
"I work about 30 hours over two weeks but I can't find a rental, landlords always seem to look for someone who is married but it's a very difficult situation when you're alone," said Theresa,who is also using a pseudonym.
"And the rent is going up higher and higher so it is difficult to manage."
Despite the challenges, she hopes to one day afford a home where she can be reunited with her family.
"When we are living all [together] we are happy, we have everything we need," Theresasaid.
Deborah Di Natale, CEO of the Council to Homeless Persons, has seen a surge in employed women seeking homelessness assistance.
"We've got women with children who are just getting ping-ponged between different services.
"The single biggest thing that the Victorian government can do to alleviate this problem is to build more social houses because that $5,000 [emergency handout] is an immediate solution, but it's short term," she said.
Last year, a state inquiry into the rental and housing affordability crisis recommended Victoria commit to building 60,000 new social housing dwellings by 2034.
A Victorian government spokesperson told the ABC more than 7,000 households had moved into social housing across the state in the past year, an increase of 29 per cent from the year before.
"We know there is more to do and that's why we are building more homes than ever before … and prioritising family violence victim-survivors."
Solutions for women escaping violence
For Susan, homelessness didn't mean sleeping on the streets; sometimes she stayed in a van or house-sat for friends while they were away.
The single mother from Melbourne's north works part-time in the creative arts industry and describes her descent into homelessness as gradual.
Reflecting on her escape from domestic violence, she said she wished there had been storage support available while she was searching for accommodation.
"I've had to move my belongings into storage over 12 times in the last 10 years," Susan, who is also using a pseudonym, said.
She said her ideal accommodation would be an integrated social and private housing complex that didn't feel like a ghetto.
Susan pointed to a Preston housing development, located near shops and public transport, as a good example.
The development, with a mix of social and private apartments, has green open spaces for not just residents but also the public.
For Megan, long wait times to access crisis housing and a lack of integrated services to support women fleeing domestic violence were the biggest challenges she faced.
She has drawn on her lived experience to assist women wanting to leave family violence but feeling trapped by the lack of alternative housing.
Megan worked with McAuley to devise a rapid response plan, starting with assigning a primary worker who responds within 48 hours of referral.
The worker addresses the victim's support needs, including providing immediate safety and helping them navigate services to secure long-term housing.
"The systems are all there but they don't come quick enough, and they don't talk to one another," Megan said.
"I lost our community, our home, our garden and my income, it was awful as I had no rental history so finding a place was near impossible, so I want to use my experience for other women who are in this situation."
