The Department of Justice and Regulation has sought to encourage the use of applications under section 233A of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 to police, family violence support workers and tenancy advocates to prevent tenancy issues experienced by family violence victim survivors from escalating into homelessness. Work on this recommendation involves:
- engaging with Victoria Police, specialist family violence workers, the Tenants Union of Victoria, and relevant community organisations to discuss training needs around section 233A
- investigating the possible use of existing communication channels such as the Consumer Affairs Victoria website
- identifying existing tenancy training resources
The Department of Justice and Regulation have undertaken an analysis of resource requirements relating to the redesign of existing tenancy training modules to include section 233A. Along with the Helen McPherson Trust, they also funded the Tenant’s Union of Victoria to deliver 11 workshops from April 2016 to June 2017 to approximately 500 community workers including specialist family violence workers. These workshops included the use of the Tenant’s Union’s Family Violence Protection Tenancy Kit which is available on the Tenants Victoria website.
Victoria Police will include training in the use of applications under s233A in the foundational recruitment training through the Police Academy.