FEMALE, HOMELESS and HIDDEN - Inside Australia's invisible crisis

She’s hardworking, educated and has dedicated years of her life to raising a family. The fastest growing group of homeless people in Australia isn’t men sleeping on park benches, but single women, who are couch surfing and living in cars and hostels in record numbers. Georgie Dent reports on a shocking epidemic

- Georgie Dent

For Vicky Vacondios, life could not have been happier. Raised in a strict but loving Greek family, she married in her 20s and set about establishing her own tight family unit in suburban Melbourne. Before long she was the mother of three beautiful children – two boys with a little girl, Becky, completing the perfect picture. Like many mums, she juggled motherhood with part-time work and volunteering at her kids’ school.

But when her husband became abusive, she had to flee the family home, taking the children with her. They headed to rural Victoria, where housing was at least affordable, but jobs were scarce. She was forced to return to the city within 12 months in search of paid work.

It was here she was hit with a horrific reality: she couldn’t afford to put a roof over her children’s heads. It was the beginning of a tumultuous period of homelessness for Vicky and her three kids, aged two, seven and 10, who were forced to endure months of short-term band-aid housing solutions. They moved into her sister’s home temporarily, but Vicky found couch surfing too intrusive. “I was embarrassed. I had no money but I didn’t want anyone’s help,” she admits.

Reeling from how her life had unravelled so quickly, Vicky sought out homelessness services for help. For the next three-and-a-half months, the family lived out of a series of motel rooms that currently serve as Australia’s temporary answer to emergency accommodation. “I’d take the kids to school and then race back to the service where hotel rooms were allocated on a daily basis,” Vicky recalls, explaining the stressful day-to-day hurdles she faced to keep her family safe.