Tracy slept in a tent for months during winter, with no home to go to after leaving jail.

The 53-year-old Gamilaroi and Wiradjuri woman endured the cold while living with a serious chronic lung condition.

Another woman Jane, who was exposed to sexual violence while in shared crisis accommodation, was facing the terrifying prospect of returning to emergency housing after her release.

They are just two of the vulnerable people helped by Legal Aid NSW's Aboriginal Women Leaving Custody service, which has collaborated on a successful pilot program to get stable housing for former inmates.

"This project has been a big help and life-changing because it's meant I have a roof over my head and it reduces my risk of re-offending,'' Tracy said.

Senior solicitor Denise Wireko-Brobby said many Indigenous women faced homelessness and violence when they left custody, sometimes making jail seem like a better option.

"Sometimes it feels safer for them to be in custody than to be out in the community because they've got somewhere to sleep," Ms Wireko-Brobby told AAP.

That sparked the Homeward Sisters program, which refers women to a solicitor to deal with any barriers to social housing.

Some women may have lost eligibility for tenancy by going into custody, or through outstanding debts, property damage by housemates and other issues linked to disadvantage.

The program helps women address those challenges and apply for priority housing, while a case worker prepares them for life on the outside.

Since the beginning of 2026, more than two-thirds of the state's Aboriginal female inmates have been referred to Homeward Sisters, a joint initiative with Corrective Services and Homes NSW.

There have been nearly 40 women - including Tracy and Jane - placed into social housing, avoiding a possible decade-long wait, Ms Wireko-Brobby said.

Stable housing bolstered rehabilitation, she said.

"How can you think about things like employment, health and education if you don't have the basic needs of sleep and food?"

The nation's female prison population grew faster than the male cohort in the decade to 2019, with Indigenous women jailed at a much higher rate, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Female inmates were more likely to have complex needs, with histories of physical and sexual abuse, along with higher rates of drug and alcohol addiction and mental illnesses.

One-quarter of all women were released into emergency accommodation, while seven per cent faced homelessness after leaving custody.

A study by RMIT University's Centre for Innovative Justice said unstable and unsafe housing was one factor driving women's criminalisation.

Cutting access to housing, services and family contact only increased the likelihood of future interaction with the legal system, according to the research.

Ms Wireko-Brobby said Homeward Sisters, which will be extended beyond the pilot, was a hopeful program, with three government agencies working together for Indigenous women.

"It feels so magical to change the status quo."

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