The national 'Nowhere To Go' Equity Economics report commissioned by Everybody's Home analysed the benefits of providing long-term social housing to survivors of domestic and family violence.

The report estimated the lack of long-term social housing led to 7690 women a year returning to violent partners and 9120 women a year becoming homeless.

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Bendigo's Centre for Non-Violence chief executive Margaret Augerinos welcomed the findings and said home was not the safest place for many women and children to be.

"There were no surprises for us, but we hope the content will help others better understand the issue facing too many women both in our region, and across our country," she said.

Ms Augerinos said what she saw across Bendigo and the broader Loddon-Mallee regions reflected what was happening at state and national levels.

"Long-term housing is important across all regions - there is not enough social and affordable housing," she said.

"We know stable housing is critical for women to build a safe life for themselves and their children.

"Women have three options when they are seeking safety: to buy their own home, rent, or access social housing.

"We know there is a shortage of rental properties in our region, and particularly a shortage of affordable rental properties with extremely low vacancy rates."

Ms Augerinos said there was a critical shortage of public and social housing with long wait lists and even fewer options for safe emergency accommodation to support immediate safety needs of women and children experiencing family violence.

"Women are often responsible for the majority of care for children, which comes with additional expenses such as childcare, education, larger housing, etc - they carry the economic burden - which means saving the deposit or servicing a loan is often out of their reach.

"It is also one of the reasons women remain in or return to homes that are unsafe - but we know there are many reasons why women do this, because they are making decisions every day to manage their safety."

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The report states, even when housing is available, women with children that have experienced domestic violence can face discrimination from landlords that preference childless couples with stable incomes in tight rental markets.

Ms Augerinos said access could be further complicated if women had poor rental or credit records due to the behaviour of ex-partners.

Comparing March 2020 and March 2021, there was a 5.9 per cent increase in the number of women seeking specialist homelessness services that had experienced domestic violence, contrasted with a 0.4 per cent decrease across all other client groups.

Ms Augerinos said there had been increased investment in family violence and housing and homelessness responses in the Loddon-Mallee during the past 18 months.

She said the centre's services were busier than ever, stretched beyond capacity and unable to meet existing demand.

"We call on the governments (state and federal) to immediately inject the required investment in housing infrastructure and support services to family violence and homelessness services so that we can ensure that no one has to be at risk of or experience homelessness," she said.

"CNV has seen a significant increase in women at risk of or experiencing homelessness due to family violence. We are seeing the impact of low vacancy rates and increased rental and home prices across the region."

The centre experienced about a 10 per cent growth in case management support to women and children between 2018-19 and 2019-20.

While the 2020-21 figures are not yet finalised, Ms Augerinos believed the trend would continue.

"The great majority of women who receive case management support have also experienced or been at risk of homelessness or housing stress," she said.

"Whichever way you look at it, the numbers are too high."

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The report also found if the federal government invested in 16,800 additional social housing units, the $7.6 billion cost would be dwarfed by immediate economic benefits of $15.3 billion and the creation of 47,000 new jobs.

It found the additional social housing would generate savings of $122.5 million in a year due to women not returning to a violent partner and a further $257 million in a year in savings due to women not experiencing homelessness after leaving their homes due to family and domestic violence.

Ms Augerinos said the Centre for Non-Violence would continue to ask all levels of government to listen to voices of the sector and recognise the broader economic and social benefits of addressing Australia's housing crisis.

The full report can be found here.

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