The Strong Ties between Domestic Violence and Homelessness
in Women
Bypassing homeless people in
tattered clothing with obscene smells, sleeping on the floors, benches or in
the trains is common for a commuter in New York to see every day. Normally,
people easily judge these men and women who have no homes - calling them lazy
and other phrases but research indicates that there is more to look at than
their physical states and their surroundings. Perhaps, majority of the women on
the streets, begging, are homeless due to domestic violence, which is
aggressive behavior within the home, typically that of a partner or a spouse, and
comes in physical, emotional, financial, psychological or sexual forms
(“Domestic Violence”). Henceforth, leaving the victims to create feelings of
helplessness and giving them no choice but to receive help through other
services. Therefore, making the issue of domestic violence, the leading cause
of homelessness for women in the United States.
Homelessness can happen to anyone,
but women are more vulnerable to various challenges. A study conducted by the
Department of Justice found that at least one in four women did not have a home
as a result of domestic violence, and another finding by the University of
Massachusetts concluded that a “staggering 92% of these women experienced
severe physical or sexual assault at some point in their lives”
(Gosselin). When women are forced to
flee their homes, they find help through homelessness services, housing
assistance, or domestic violence programs. For advocates of human rights, the
rapid increase in the numbers of women leaving their homes because of torture
has become a concern. As shown in Figure 1, the NYC Department of Homeless
Services found that in 2016, domestic violence was the top reason to
homelessness in New York City, which is roughly 30%, 3,618 women out of the
12,022 in total researched. Some people believe that the services provided for
survivors are taking care of the issue, and others argue that even with hundreds
of assistance programs and shelters, it’s not enough. Regardless, the reality
is, domestic violence remains the leading cause of homelessness in the United
States due to the many unique challenges women go through.
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| Figure 1: Courtesy of NYC Department of Homeless Services |
The American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) for Women’s Rights summarizes the struggles women escaping abusive
relationships endure. One of the women go through is that of housing
instability. Housing instability is variably defined as “having difficulty paying
rent, spending more than 50% of household income on housing, having frequent
moves, living in overcrowded conditions, or doubling up with friends and
relatives” (Kushel). If women do not find alternative housing they often return
to their partners, and continue bearing through the pain they once chose to
leave and hover in unstable situations.
For instance, 46 percent of homeless women in Minnesota and 44 percent
in North Dakota were reported to live in unbearable relationships because again
they did not have any other housing options” (ACLU). In addition, in a cross-sectional study it
was examined that the relationship between recent interpersonal violence and
housing instability found that women experiencing interpersonal violence,
violent between persons, in the last year had nearly “four times the odds of
reporting housing instability than women who did not experience interpersonal
violence” (FYSB). Due to the fewer resources to find stable housing as well as
limited support of family and friends, women are forced to endure other
hardships like lack of health care, food insecurity and poverty.
Survivors of domestic violence often
are poor which limit their choices and makes it difficult to escape from toxic
relationships. Normally a woman who has experienced some sort of force will
generally have little or no access to money. According to a research collected
by Purdue University, some of the most significant factors are barriers to
employment. Because of these barriers, many victims of domestic violence may
not be “able to leave welfare for work within the imposed time constraints of
the recent welfare reform.” Due to these
limitations, women can be tardy, absent and lack productivity at work. These conditions
are proven by research done at University of Michigan where “between 23 percent
and 42 percent survivors report to have bad performances at work because of the
abuse” (Sathyanathan 17). Working simple jobs on minimum wages and surviving
becomes even more difficult. In fact, because of horrible experiences in the
past and feelings of isolation, many do not ask or rely on family members or
friends for any financial help. Isolation is an immediate cause of fear, and
fear strengthens the relationship between domestic abuse and a roof above one’s
head.
Fear refrain survivors from getting
help or using any hotline, shelters or services initially provided for such
groups. Abusers typically have the tendency to use violence to exercise power
and control over their partners, isolating their partners from support
networks. A report by University of Michigan concluded that “approximately 70%
of domestic violence victims did not disclose the abuse to their Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) caseworkers,” because of fear, and the
same study found that 75% of those that did reveal information about the
violence did not receive the appropriate support or services (Sathyanathan 17).
To further shed light on the crisis, Francesca, a domestic violence survivor
shares her story on the National Domestic Violence Hotline page saying that
when she told her story to her friends and family, few asked why she had not
left early and others did not believe her. She explains,
“People do not understand how
difficult it is to escape. It is almost impossible to gather evidence, because
the abuser will find a way to destroy it. No one on the outside knows what is
happening because the abuser has the victim trapped and alone. He cuts her off
from all outside interaction, and attempts to control her mind, and in many
cases, he is successful” ("Francesca's Story").
Francesca is one of the many women who had face the
monstrous acts and is guilty of letting fear pile up. When some women do not
allow fear to come in the way to live a better life, advocates of domestic violence
believe that the strict policies of landlords become another challenge for the
survivors, forcing them onto the streets again.
Many
landlords have “adopted policies, such as ‘zero tolerance for crime’ policies,
that penalize victims of domestic violence,” instead of providing support
(ACLU). Landlords are able to expel renters with these policies when any form
of violence occurs in their homes, even if the resident is the victim of the
abuse. These women are then far more likely to face eviction than other women
and worst-case scenario, some landlords pledge to never give their homes for
rent to the victims of domestic violence(ACLU).
For example, an investigation in 2005 by a fair housing group in New
York City found that 28 percent of housing providers either flatly refused to
rent to a domestic violence victim or failed to follow up as promised when
contacted by an investigator posing as a housing coordinator for a domestic
violence survivor assistance program (ACLU).
Because of fear to be evicted, women normally do not look for
assistance, instead they choose to go back to their homes or live off by
begging on the streets. As a result of the struggles, studies have confirmed
that the women are prone to having psychological disorders negatively affecting
them, giving them another thing to worry about.
Traumatized
from their previous lives with an abusive partner, these women are likely to
develop mental issues. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common
disorder in the women, where it is a condition of enduring mental and emotional
stress occurring as a result of an injury or severe psychological shock, in
this case, violence (“Posttraumatic Stress Disorder”). The Global Health Action
created a research based on questionnaire, specifically a cross-sectional
survey. Their findings were that depression and anxiety levels were large,
“with means close to clinical thresholds, and more than three-quarters of
respondents recorded PTSD scores above the clinical threshold” (Giulia Ferrari
et al). Majority of the
women are clutched by mental illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or
severe depression, which are in fact all manageable by medication or
counseling, but cost is the problem. To avoid rules, regulations, and the urge
for freedom, survivors decide to find living on platforms because there would
be no protocol. When more women face similar challenges, the correlation
between domestic violence and homelessness becomes stronger.
Domestic
violence is the top cause of homelessness in the United States. Women seeking
for services face many troubles like housing instability, poverty, fear of the
abuser and dealing with landlords with bad policies who make the situation
bigger. Homelessness has not only become a statewide issue, it is now a nation
issue where services and shelters are more needed than ever before. People in
need can consider the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD),
the National Domestic Violence Hotlines and various other services that are
committed to serving the nation’s most susceptible people.
Works Cited
Giulia Ferrari et al. “Domestic Violence and Mental health:
a Cross-Sectional Survey of Women
Seeking Help from Domestic Violence Support
Services.” Global Health Action.
EBSCOhost. Academic Search Complete. 2016, Vol. 9 Issue 1, p1-2. 10p.
6 Charts. Web.
Kushel, Margot B, et al. “Housing Instability and Food
Insecurity as Barriers to Health Care
Among Low-Income Americans.” Journal of General Internal Medicine,
Blackwell
Science Inc, Jan. 2006.
“Domestic Violence and Homelessness”.
ACLU Women's Rights Project. PDF.
"Domestic Violence and Homelessness: Statistics
(2016)." FYSB: Family & Youth Services
Bureau. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 24 June
2016. Web.
PDF.
“Domestic Violence”. English
Oxford Dictionary, 2018, Accessed. 21 Feb. 2018.
"Francesca's Story." The National Domestic Violence Hotline. 19 Sept. 2017. Web. 21 Feb.
2018.
“Posttraumatic Stress Disorder”. English Oxford Dictionary.
Accessed. 21 Feb. 2018.
Routhier, Giselle. "Family Homelessness in NYC: City
and State Must Meet Unprecedented
Scale of Crisis with Proven
Solutions." Coalition for the
Homeless. Web. 26 Feb. 2018.
Sathyanathan, Deborah, and Anna Pollack. “Domestic Violence
and Poverty.” Purdue. 21 Feb. 2018.
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