Women impacted by domestic and family violence who go on to bear the brunt of unpaid mortgages, loans and rent will be the focus of two upcoming roundtables exploring solutions for the financial distress they experience.

The first will be held today, hosted by Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence Katrine Hildyard, and will bring together stakeholders from the real estate industry, housing organisations, the domestic and family violence sector, relevant government departments, advocacy bodies and victim-survivors.

The second, to be held next month, will involve representatives from the banking sector and will focus on how to support women who are burdened with loans and mortgages after experiencing family violence.

According to the state government, in 2021-22 an estimated 39 per cent of all people accessing homelessness services in Australia were people who had experienced family and domestic violence.

Further, the 2021 Personal Safety Survey found one in six women had experienced economic abuse by a partner.

Speaking to InDaily, Minster Hildyard said the roundtables were about “finding solutions” and “thinking quite creatively with industry”.

“If we are to tackle domestic violence we need to be active with people in the community, but we also need businesses and organisations to be active,” Hildyard said.

“I’m really grateful that the real estate industry is stepping up to be involved and see what role they can play and what solutions they can be part of.”

Today’s roundtable will include the Real Estate Institute of South Australia CEO Andrea Heading and representatives from the property management industry, Consumer and Business Services, real estate agencies and women’s safety services such as the Zahra Foundation.

“We’re getting them together with women who’ve had direct experience of this to actually work out what else we could do at the policy end and with the industry to actually make sure that women are not being responsible for damage, for unpaid rent, etcetera, as an experience of domestic violence,” Hildyard said.

Hildyard said that gender inequality was the root cause of domestic violence, and pointed to the recently released “South Australia’s Women’s Equality Blueprint 2023-2026” as an example of what the government is doing to address the core of the problem.

“We want our state to be one where your gender doesn’t have any bearing on the opportunities available to you and nor is your gender seen in a particular light in terms of what those opportunities could be,” she said.

“A central part of that plan is we have signalled our intention to introduce a gender equality bill to our parliament. Victoria has a similar bill and that will set out what we require particular agencies and organisations to do to make sure they are working toward gender equality.

“We know that an equal future benefits the whole of our state.”

Consumer and Business Affairs Minister Andrea Michaels added that the roundtable was “an important step to finding solutions so women don’t find themselves having to choose between remaining in an unsafe relationship or being homeless”.

“This roundtable is an opportunity for government to listen to people in the domestic and family violence sector on the barriers tenants experience and work with the real estate industry to explore how it can be addressed.”