Amanda was two-months pregnant and suffering from severe morning sickness when she was taken in by nuns at a Melbourne convent about a decade ago.
She’d been kicked out of the home she’d been living in, and was facing an uncertain future.
“You just go into survival mode,” she said.
“That was the only way that I kept on moving forward.”
About a week before her baby girl arrived, Amanda was placed in transitional housing.
“You don’t really realise until later on that you’ve gone through something huge,” she said.
“Not having a home and getting through everything, it’s quite unbelievable.”
Amanda says she went into “survival mode” when she became homeless while pregnant. (ABC News: Nicole Asher)
That baby girl is now an active and intelligent nine year old. Together, they’re living a settled and stable life.
Amanda’s story is far from unique, but there’s no real data on how many women are homeless while pregnant.
“These aren’t statistics that are regularly taken,” RMIT sociologist Juliet Watson said.
“What we do know about women … who are pregnant is that they’re likely to be more highly represented in the homeless population than they are in the general population.
“But we don’t have clear statistics on it. There’s no routine data.”
Juliet Watson, an RMIT sociologist, says there is no clear data on the number of pregnant women who are homeless. (ABC News: Nicole Asher)
Dr Watson said that needed to change so governments knew the size of the cohort who needed specialised help.
“We need accurate data about how many women this is affecting,” she said.
“Then when we get data we can actually speak to people in government, people who are responsible for policy to actually look at this as a serious issue.”
Demand for services outstrips availability
Even though the data is missing on how many women are homeless while pregnant, one thing is certain — demand for help outsizes the help available.
“Once they have a baby, they may be priorities for social housing, but it’s really difficult for women to be prioritised until that baby is actually born,” Dr Watson said.
Every month, women like Amanda are being turned away from a one-of-a-kind, and at capacity, homelessness program specifically targeted at pregnant women.
The program, called Cornelia, integrates health care provided by the Royal Women’s Hospital, and crisis and ongoing housing services provided through Launch Housing and Housing First respectively.
Cornelia is located at an undisclosed location in Melbourne. (Supplied: Royal Women’s Hospital)
“We provide up to about 12 months of accommodation and when the time is right, women and their babies move out into long-term secure housing and break that cycle of homelessness,” Launch Housing CEO Sherri Bruinhout said.
“We have maternal health and women’s health services as well as case-management homelessness services.”
But space in the program, run from a secret location in a Melbourne suburb, is extremely limited.
There are just 34 studio apartments, meaning space for 34 women and their babies.
Launch Housing CEO Sherri Bruinhout says the program is in high demand. (ABC News: Nicole Asher)
“Every month we get at least 25 women ringing us up, desperate for exactly what the Cornelia program is offering,” Ms Bruinhout said.
“They’re desperate for a safe place to stay where they want to give the best opportunities to their babies.
“Their aspirations are the same as our aspirations — we don’t want their kids to continue the journey that they’ve had to live.”
Victorian government looks at ongoing arrangements for program
Cornelia stands as an example of what can be achieved when organisations work together, advocates say.
“There’s nothing else like it in Australia,” Dr Watson told the ABC.
“There’s just this one service, it’s in Melbourne, it really can only deal with a small percentage of the women that have this need.
“Before Cornelia was set up, there was nothing.”
Cornelia can accomodate 34 women and their babies. (Supplied: Royal Women’s Hospital)
Dr Watson has done extensive research around homelessness and housing, including looking specifically at the issues pregnant women face while living with housing insecurity.
She’s also assessed the effectiveness of Cornelia, describing it in an evaluation as “delivering an essential service that is achieving outstanding longer-term results”.
“I’ve had people say to me it would be great to have Cornelias all over Australia,” Dr Watson said.
“More integration between health and housing services [is required] so women have all the support they need, rather than their health is getting looked after but the housing’s not being addressed and vice versa.”
The Victorian government, which provided funding to get Cornelia up and running, is looking at ongoing arrangements for the program, which was initially set up as a pilot, a spokesperson said.
