{"id":6156,"date":"2024-03-03T09:25:25","date_gmt":"2024-03-03T09:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6156"},"modified":"2024-03-12T09:28:28","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T09:28:28","slug":"whats-safer-for-domestic-violence-survivors-home-or-the-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6156","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Safer for Domestic Violence Survivors: Home or the Streets?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/span>Selen Ozturk<\/a><\/p>\n

Domestic violence is among the leading causes of homelessness, and is driving growing numbers of women to sake safety in the streets.<\/p>\n

At a Friday, February 16 Ethnic Media Services briefing, domestic violence prevention advocates and a formerly unhoused survivor discussed how domestic violence often leads to homelessness and shared firsthand experiences of homelessness as a result of IPV.<\/p>\n

The impact of domestic violence on homelessness<\/h2>\n

Domestic violence, also known as intimate partner violence (IPV), involves \u201cviolence, abuse or aggression committed by a former or current intimate partner,\u201d said Dr. Anita Hargrave, Assistant Adjunct Professor at UCSF.<\/p>\n

Last month, to better understand the experiences of IPV survivors currently experiencing homelessness, the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative released Toward Safety, a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0analyzing IPV data from June 2023 in the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness (CASPEH<\/a>) \u2014 the largest representative study of homelessness since the mid-1990s.<\/p>\n

This new report found that 40% of participants reporting IPV in the six months before homelessness reported violence as a reason for leaving their last housing, while 20% said it was the primary reason.<\/p>\n

IPV \u201cis particularly dangerous for those at the economic margins,\u201d said Hargrave. \u201cMany survivors reported that relatively modest amounts of financial support could have helped them avoid homelessness \u2014 which left them even more vulnerable to increased violence, as 42% of IPV survivors prior to homelessness experienced it unhoused as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

73% of those who reported IPV before homelessness believed that a $300 to $500 monthly subsidy would have kept them housed for at least two years, while 83% believed that a one-time $5,000 to $10,000 lump sum would have, and 92% believed that a housing voucher limiting rental contributions to 30% of their income would have.<\/p>\n

95% of all survivors said high housing costs were a barrier to regaining housing.<\/p>\n

In short, \u201cMany IPV survivors are forced to choose between a rock and a hard place: enduring violence at home or risking homelessness,\u201d said Hargrave. \u201cYou can\u2019t address the link between IPV and homelessness without addressing the need for permanent affordable housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rising IPV and homelessness in New York City<\/h2>\n

Domestic violence has particularly been on the rise in New York City, where\u00a040%<\/a>\u00a0of women and children in homeless shelters are there because of IPV.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite New York City making progress in reducing other forms of homicides, domestic violence homicides persist, and continues to disproportionately impact Black and Hispanic women,\u201d said Jennifer White-Reid, Chief of Staff at Urban Resource Institute (URINYC), which provides transitional housing for thousands of domestic violence survivors and homeless families.<\/p>\n

Between 2021 and 2022,\u00a0IPV homicides<\/a>\u00a0increased 29% citywide, 225% in Brooklyn and 57% in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

Key to stopping this cycle is education including \u201cviolence prevention and healthy relationship education programs for youth, and trauma-informed behavioral intervention accountability programs for individuals who have caused harm,\u201d said White-Reid.<\/p>\n

In February 2023, URINYC advocated for the passage of a state bill redefining domestic violence under the New York City Human Rights Law to include economic abuse, which includes coerced debt and gives victims expanded protections.<\/p>\n

Just as crucial is economic investment, including housing support and IPV-related debt prevention, she explained: \u201cEconomic abuse, experienced by 98% of survivors, often serves as a primary reason they stay or return to an abusive partner.\u201d<\/p>\n

URINYC also offers workforce development, employment assistance and affordable housing services including People and Animals Living Safely (PALS).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned that 50% of survivors would not leave a dangerous situation if they could not take their pets with them,\u201d said White-Reid. \u201cPALS is the only dedicated program in New York City, and among a few nationally, allowing domestic violence survivors to live and heal together with their pets as they work to achieve economic stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

A firsthand experience<\/h2>\n

Without resources like these, \u201cI chose homelessness over returning to abuse,\u201d said Desiree Martinez, who was unhoused for five years in Fresno, California until 2016 due to IPV.<\/p>\n

\u201cLacking insurance after a mental breakdown, I was desperate for assistance at a local mental health office but ended up being confined as they deemed me at-risk,\u201d continued Martinez, who is now Executive Director of homelessness advocacy nonprofit\u00a0We Are NOT Invisible<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNational hotlines directed me to county resources, yet there was limited local support. After not meeting the criteria for a bed at a domestic violence shelter, I found myself at a homeless shelter sleeping on the floor amongst others,\u201d added Martinez, who suggested that shelters reserve beds for domestic violence survivors, given the high prevalence of homelessness among them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s especially dangerous for women to survive the streets,\u201d she said. \u201cIn Fresno County there was a lot of sex trafficking, a lot of drugs. You stay up all night in order not to be raped. You have nowhere to change, no shower, no heat. You don\u2019t feel like a female. You\u2019re scared constantly and all you want is shelter\u00a0 \u2014 no wonder a lot of people choose to go back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shelter\u2019s gender restrictions left me exposed to the streets once again, surviving on a fixed disability income while facing steep rents,\u201d Martinez explained. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for a 30% income affordable housing voucher, I would still probably be on the streets, and who knows what would have happened to me. Yet, I\u2019m nervous every year because the rent continues to increase, but the voucher does not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou flee an abusive relationship because you want safety, but being unhoused makes you vulnerable to thousands of strangers. For a time, I\u2019d ended up going back because I\u2019d rather be abused by one I knew,\u201d she added. \u201cWe need to educate people about what\u2019s happening to us in the streets \u2014 that we\u2019re good people too who just want a permanent home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: Published without changes from Ethnic Media Services<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BySelen Ozturk Domestic violence is among the leading causes of homelessness, and is driving growing numbers of women<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-outreach","category-regular-column"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6158,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156\/revisions\/6158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}