A woman fleeing domestic violence is living in a southwest Sydney hotel room with her five children.
Her friend, Maha Abdo, has dedicated her working life to providing housing and refuge for countless women in similar situations.
"How can we sleep at night when that's happening?," Ms Abdo said on Thursday.
After decades of work, Ms Abdo has received the go-ahead from the NSW government to lead a new social housing development for vulnerable culturally and linguistically diverse women in western Sydney.
"The image I envisage is like a little village where you have older women, younger women and children that can both live together and have their own privacy," she said.
Ms Abdo says bringing people together from diverse communities is key to ending cycles of violence.
"Once people feel more safe, secure and economically stronger, hopefully, they'll be at peace with their heart and domestic violence can be reduced," she said.
The $7.2 million project, equally funded by Muslim Women Australia and the NSW government under the $225 million community Housing Innovation Fund, will deliver 12 units in Greenacre.
The complex will have six five-bedroom duplexes and six one-bedroom studios, with separate kitchens and bathrooms.
Minister for Women Jodie Harrison said domestic violence rates in southwest Sydney had risen 16 per cent in the past five years.
"We need to support people fleeing domestic violence," she said.
"Not just to provide a safe place in the short term but also to provide a place to heal and to recover and to stay out of a place that puts them at further risk."
The units are expected to be ready in early 2024.
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