As we mark Homelessness Week 2025 (4–10 August), Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Australia stands in solidarity with people across the country advocating for urgent, systemic action to end homelessness. 

The national theme, #HomelessnessActionNow, calls on governments, services, and communities to ensure that housing is made accessible as a human right, not a privilege. 

But for the people we accompany, serve, and advocate for – refugees, people seeking asylum, and others on temporary visas – the homelessness crisis is worsening. And urgent action is needed now. 

The Hidden Homelessness Crisis for People on Temporary Visas 

The New South Wales (NSW) Government Homelessness Strategy has a vision is to make NSW a place where homelessness is “rare, brief and not repeated – because people have a safe home and the support to keep it”. 

The experience of the people we serve tells a starkly different story: for people on temporary visas, homelessness is common, ongoing, and repeated. 

Through our emergency relief and casework we see the families and individuals we serve increasingly facing primary and secondary homelessness. This can look like: 

• Families sleeping in friend’s spare rooms or garages; 

• Women escaping violence with no access to refuges; 

• Children missing school as they move between unstable temporary accommodations; 

• Men with no income, work rights, or access to social security, sleeping in cars, tents, parks and backyards; 

• People with disabilities navigating a system that is not designed for their inclusion, facing additional risks of exploitation and inadequate housing. 

Homelessness does not always look like rough sleeping 

Many of the people we work with experience invisible homelessness: couch surfing, overcrowded dwellings, or temporary and uncertain crisis accommodation. Our vulnerable community members are the first to step up to fill the gaps and support each other. But this cannot go on forever – it is not safe, it is not sufficient, and it does not provide families with a true opportunity to rebuild their lives with dignity and safety in Australia.  

The severity of this crisis is most visible in our work at the Finding Safety Project, based in our Women’s Space in Parramatta. Every week, we meet women like Anita, who made the brave decision to escape an abusive relationship while pregnant, only to end up sleeping in her car with her newborn.  

It took tireless efforts from our Finding Safety team to find a shelter who would finally say: “We accept your application. The client can move in tomorrow.” 

Read Anita’s story here.

The reality is gender-based violence is a severe problem in Australia, with most shelters full and underfunded.

Our experience is that women on temporary visas are often excluded from shelters and crisis accommodation altogether. Exit pathways are required, but impossible for women on temporary visas to evidence without income or permanent status.  

For women seeking asylum, the barriers to safety are immense. Without access to adequate support, women are forced to choose between escaping violence, and homelessness. 

This structural exclusion is not a coincidence. 

At JRS Australia, we want to see concrete and systemic change that ensures no women and children are left behind, and nobody is denied safety because of their visa status.

Homelessness Week is a time to raise our voices and tell the truth: Australia’s homelessness systems are not working for everyone.  

Every day, our staff walk alongside people experiencing this injustice up close. In her moving “Day in the Life” reflection, Sara Muzamil, Project Manager of the Finding Safety Project, describes what this looks like on the ground. 

“A woman came in with her two young daughters after fleeing violence. She was on a bridging visa. No family here. No access to income or support. When the 10-year-old looked at me and said, ‘Please help my mom,’ I promised her I would.” 

Sara and her team reached out to countless refuges. Most were full and almost all unable to accept women without income or exit pathways. Eventually, a temporary solution was found, and that night, two girls and their mother were safe.  

Read Sara’s reflection in full here.  

We need real change this Homelessness Week

Too often, there are no solutions. The emotional and moral toll of exclusion is borne by frontline workers like Sara, and by women and children who are made to feel invisible in the very systems meant to protect them. 

That’s why we need urgent reform, at both state and federal levels, to protect our most vulnerable community members.

Change at the NSW level: 

We outlined our recommendations for a strategy that would decrease the risks of homelessness for people seeking asylum in our response to the Draft New South Wales strategy earlier in the year, including:

• The NSW Homelessness Strategy must explicitly include people on temporary visas in its scope, not just in the appendices. 

• Emergency and transitional housing services must be sufficiently and specifically funded to support all people at risk, regardless of visa status. 

• Greater recognition must be paid to the specific needs of Western Sydney communities, where homelessness is high, and most of the families we serve are living in unstable accommodation. 

Change at the Federal Level: 

JRS Australia is a proud member of the National Advocacy Group for Women on Temporary Visas Experiencing Violence. Together we are calling on the Australian Government to: 

• Reform the migration system so all women experiencing violence can access protection and justice; 

• Expand access to Medicare and social security for women and children facing violence; 

• Guarantee access to social and public housing for those on temporary visas; 

• Fund specialist and legal services for women experiencing or at risk of domestic and family violence. 

What’s happening for Homelessness Week 

As part of our public presence during Homelessness Week, we will be participating in a number of events, and sharing resources to help you learn more about the issues facing refugees and people seeking asylum.  

• Wednesday 6 August: Parramatta Mission Homelessness Hub
  Our Casework and Emergency Relief Team will be presenting at Parramatta Mission uplifting the voices and needs of those living without safety and shelter in Western Sydney.

• Friday 8 August: Homeless Memorial Service
  We will be joining the Diocese of Parramatta for a moving evening of remembrance, prayer, and community under the theme “Wrapped in Love.”  

We will also be engaging on social media throughout the week, and onwards – so follow along to learn more and take action together:  Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

Get Involved: 

We invite our supporters, faith communities, and allies to take action with us: 

• Share our stories: Spread awareness by sharing lived experience stories like Sara’s, Anita’s, or Reva’s.
• Read and endorse the Open Letter: from the National Advocacy Group on Women on Temporary Visas Experiencing Violence, which we proudly support.
• Join the Movement: Show your support for a Human Rights Act in Australia
• Write to your MP: Ask them to ensure that housing and safety services are available to all women and families in crisis, regardless of visa status.
• Attend the memorial service on 8 August at St Patrick’s Cathedral Forecourt, Parramatta: learn more here.
• Donate to JRS: Help us provide emergency accommodation, food, and casework support to women, men, and children who have nowhere else to go: https://aus.jrs.net/donate.