The Good Samaritan Inn marked a significant milestone this month with the turning of the sod for the construction of the Good Samaritan Village, a purpose-built crisis accommodation facility in Melbourne for women, children and gender-diverse people escaping family violence.
By Debra Vermeer
Supported by the Sisters of the Good Samaritan and funded through a $6.9 million Australian Government Safe Places Inclusion Round grant, the Good Samaritan Village represents the next chapter in The Inn’s mission to provide compassionate, holistic support to victim-survivors of family violence.
The Good Samaritan Inn’s CEO, Jemma Mead, said The Village had been purposefully designed to respond to the growing demand for crisis accommodation by combining safe, contemporary housing with the therapeutic and practical supports families need to recover and rebuild their lives.
“It will cater for a similar target group as we have for The Inn in terms of people who are experiencing family violence, are in imminent danger and need to be in protective hiding,” she said.
“But rather than being a communal facility like The Inn, it will be what is referred to in Victoria as a ‘core and cluster’ refuge.
“After the Royal Commission into Family Violence it was recommended that communal refuges transition to a setting where each family has their own independent living unit with their own kitchen and bathroom, which provides them with more privacy, more autonomy.
“The Inn is one of the only remaining communal refuges in Victoria, but we think it holds a special place and has a strong benefit for a range of folk, where the communal setting provides more peer support from other families going through similar situations. It is a very valuable model.
“However, there are some families that it doesn’t suit, so it’s great for us to be able to have that choice in terms of what The Village will provide.”
The turning of the sod ceremony brought together representatives from Federal, State and Local Government, as well as the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, architects, construction and community partners, and local leaders, including the local Catholic school principal and the CEO of Catholic Social Services Victoria.
The Chair of The Good Samaritan Inn Board, Patricia Bergin, said the ceremony recognised not only the beginning of a building project, but the continuation of a mission that has been serving vulnerable women and children for almost three decades.
“Almost 30 years ago, the Sisters of the Good Samaritan recognised a need in their community. Women and children escaping family violence needed more than emergency accommodation – they needed safety, compassion and the opportunity to rebuild their lives,” Patricia said during the ceremony.
“They responded with courage and generosity, establishing what has become the Good Samaritan Inn. Today, that same spirit brings us here.
“The Good Samaritan Village is the next chapter in that story. As the Good Samaritan Inn celebrates 30 years of service, it is fitting that we begin building a place that will extend our capacity to support women and children for many years to come.”
The Good Samaritan Village joins not only the Good Samaritan Inn, but also the recently opened Good Samaritan Haven, which is located in a redeveloped former convent, and accommodates survivors transitioning from immediate crisis support to longer-term support to help them heal and recover from family violence.
Designed by ClarkeHopkinsClarke, The Village will provide ten self-contained apartments with 22 bedrooms. The apartments are a combination of one, two and three bedrooms, with swing rooms allowing flexibility to adapt configurations depending on the size of families.
The site will also include a communal therapeutic garden, program room, counselling rooms and office space. Families will be provided with risk assessments, safety planning, case management support, family violence counselling, art therapy, garden therapy and referrals to a range of other wraparound services.
“Three of the units will be designed to meet the needs of people with different abilities: one for people with physical disabilities and mobility issues, one for people with hearing impairment and one for people with vision impairment,” Jemma said.
“Priority will be given to Aboriginal women and children and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, particularly women without permanent residency.
“The Village will be completed and operational by July 2027, with the support of our Project Managers, Affordable Housing Solutions, and our builders, Stemcon.”
Five Sisters of the Good Samaritan were present at the turning of the sod ceremony, including Congregational Leader Catherine McCahill, along with Kerin Caldwell, Meg Kahler and Grace Marcelo. Also present were Sisters Anne Dixon and Helen Mills, who together, founded The Inn in 1996 as a modest shelter for homeless women in the suburbs of Melbourne.
Catherine spoke about the long tradition of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan in caring for women and children on the margins, dating back to the Congregation’s first work, a women’s refuge established in Sydney in the 1880s. She offered a prayer at the Blessing of the Site and Meg gave a closing prayer at the conclusion of the formalities.
The ceremony also included an Acknowledgement of Country, the placement of a time capsule containing letters to commemorate the historic milestone, and the planting of a tree representing new life.
In her contribution to the time capsule, Good Samaritan Inn board member Kerin Caldwell reflected on the symbolism of the tree that was planted.
“As it grows strong, spreads its branches and flowers, bringing joy to man, so may The Village be a place where women and children find shelter, can grow, spread their wings in hope, and flourish as they take up this new direction in their life journey,” she wrote.
Speaking later, Kerin said the Sisters remain committed to supporting ministries like the Good Samaritan Village, working in collaboration with others.
“We continue to plant the seeds that will one day grow, but we do it through the Board and the staff and our partners in ministry, because we are no longer the ones at the coalface,” she said.
“We could not be here without government funding, the support of Catherine and her Council, and without good, committed people who work in the social welfare area and our generous volunteers. We’re dependent on these wonderful people to help those seeds to grow and flourish.”
Patricia said that along with the construction of The Village and the ongoing operation of The Inn and The Haven, the Board was now focused on talks with the Victorian Government to try to secure operational funding for The Inn once construction is complete.
Information about how you can support the Good Samaritan Inn is available via the website.
