“Everything is pushing her out, and yet we have a housing situation which will not accommodate her. The gap in the middle is homelessness.”
The Gap in the Middle Is Homelessness
Jocelyn Bignold · CEO, McAuley Community Services for Women
About this episode
In this episode, Matt and Tenille speak with Jocelyn Bignold, CEO of McAuley Community Services for Women, about the deep intersection between family violence and homelessness in Australia. Jocelyn unpacks why the system still pushes women to leave — and what happens when there's nowhere safe to go. She walks us through the Safe at Home trial in Geelong and Barwon, which is flipping the script by supporting whole families to stay safe, and shares what she's learning about systems change, risk, early intervention, and what it takes to turn curiosity into action.
Key takeaways
The gap in the middle is homelessness
Family violence is the leading cause of homelessness in Australia — accounting for 40% — yet our systems still push women to leave rather than addressing the perpetrator's behaviour, and there is nowhere affordable for them to go.
Safe at Home is showing a different way is possible
Across 23 households and 64 individuals in the trial, there have been zero critical incidents and no homelessness — demonstrating that whole-of-family approaches can reduce risk without forcing women and children out of their homes.
Systems mapping became the North Star
The systems mapping process revealed that McAuley was a "cog in the homelessness wheel" — helping the organisation see the broader system it was operating in and pinpoint where intervention was actually needed.
'Early' means different things to different parts of the system
Early intervention from a police perspective is before it becomes a criminal matter; from a housing perspective, it's before she's homeless — and lived experience advisors are challenging whether any of those definitions are fit for purpose.
One person can gather the curious and get something going
When a problem feels too big or too complex, Jocelyn's advice is simple: pick one, put your name to it, and invite others in with curiosity — because that's how movements start.
Topics covered
- Family violence
- Homelessness
- Safe at Home
- Systems thinking
- Early intervention
- Lived experience
- Perpetrator accountability