At Sheltered by Grace, we support men who are living at the sharpest edge of crisis. They’re not just statistics—they’re fathers, sons, brothers. Many arrive at our doors after surviving domestic violence, battling mental illness or addiction, or simply being let down by a system that has no place for them. Some bring children. All bring trauma.
Men make up the largest proportion of the homeless population in Australia—yet services and policy rarely reflect this. Worse, when men are victims of domestic or family violence, their experiences are often denied, minimised or misunderstood. At Sheltered by Grace, we offer one of the few, if not the only, crisis accommodation options in the country where male DV survivors are not only believed, but supported. Our integrated model recognises that homelessness doesn’t exist in isolation—it’s usually the final stage in a collapse involving trauma, mental illness, addiction, unemployment, and social disconnection.
We started Sheltered by Grace because of Bruce—an older father who had been the care provider for his two young daughters. One day his 13 year old daughter told him she was leaving home and going to become homeless because her mother had been verbally abusing her for some time and she just couldn’t cope any longer. He had to remove his two young daughters from the environment. He did the right thing. But when he asked for help from community and government, he was told, ‘There was no help for him because he didn’t have a skirt.’ We followed Bruce down the rabbit hole and found nothing. No support. No shelter. That story isn’t unique. It’s been repeated, time and time again."
Our presentation will explore the intersections between male homelessness, suicide risk, addiction, and under-acknowledged forms of victimisation. It’s time to broaden the conversation around men’s health—not just focusing on what men don’t do (talk, seek help, cry), but also on the ways the system doesn’t show up for them. We’ll share real-world strategies that work, challenge the stereotypes that don’t, and call for sector-wide accountability to make men’s suffering more than just a footnote.
Men are not less vulnerable because they’re men. They’re just less seen.