Powerful exhibition revealing the hidden face of women’s homelessness heads to Gippsland
27.07.26
| A striking exhibition of illustration and photography, telling the stories of three Victorian women who have lived through homelessness, will open in Traralgon in early August. Walk In Her Shoes charts the very different paths of three women who lost their housing at separate stages of life, one as a young person, one as a mother, and one later in life, and shows how family violence, poverty and a shortage of safe homes can tip a woman into crisis. Its arrival coincides with the latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data, which found that women and girls accounted for 59 per cent of Victorians seeking help from homelessness services in 2024-25, close to 62,000 people in all. Within that group were more than 13,000 girls under 18 and over 6,800 women aged 55 and older, and for more than half, family and domestic violence formed part of their story. A community forum will run alongside the exhibition, bringing together women with lived experience, frontline workers, local MPs and residents to talk through what is driving more women into homelessness in Gippsland and across the state, and what needs to change to keep them housed. The panel includes lived experience advocate Shaini from Melbourne City Mission, alongside Wayne Farnham MP, State Member for Narracan, Mitchell Burney, Head of Children, Youth, Families and Housing Supports at Quantum Support Services, and Aleisha Olivier, Regional Homelessness Services Coordinator at Community Housing Limited. Council to Homeless Persons CEO Deborah Di Natale said the exhibition laid bare the human cost of Victoria’s housing shortfall, and the particular toll it takes on women and children fleeing violence. “Right across Victoria, and here in Gippsland, women are now the majority of people asking homelessness services for help, yet too often they remain the hidden face of this crisis,” Ms Di Natale said. “These three stories show what the statistics really mean, a young woman escaping violence, a mother trying to keep her children safe, or an older woman left with nowhere to turn. “For women in regional communities the options can be even thinner, with fewer services and greater distances to travel. Victoria needs close to 80,000 additional social housing properties over the next decade simply to reach the national average, and the government’s recent investment has to be the first step in a far bigger effort.” The exhibition is on display at the Gippsland Performing Arts Centre from Thursday 6 August to Thursday 13 August. The community forum takes place at the same venue on Thursday 6 August, 6:30pm to 8:30pm. Entry is free and catering will be provided. The event is presented by Council to Homeless Persons and proudly sponsored by the Municipal Association of Victoria and Community Information and Support Victoria, with support from Latrobe City Council and Quantum Support Services. Register to attend the event here. MEDIA: Eliot Barham | 0423 921 200 |