Correlation between Domestic Violence and Homelessness
Imagine living under a roof with a partner who makes you feel like you have a gun pointed at your head every moment you’re with them and there’s no escaping it.
When you find an escape, you think it is too late because everything you built– family and home is gone in a nutshell. It becomes hard to stay due to the agony and pain, but it becomes even hard when the only choice you have left is to leave and face the world outside, alone. Then society gives you a label, you are a survivor of domestic violence and on top of that homeless.
Domestic violence is “aggressive behaviour within the home, typically involving the violent abuse of a spouse or partner” (Oxford). Normally when people think of domestic violence they think of couples fighting and the male being aggressive towards the woman. Domestic violence can come in many forms. They can be physical, emotional, financial, psychological or sexual, and can also be categorized as abuse. For example, rape is a form of domestic violence where the victim creates feelings of helplessness and self-doubt and is subjected to demeaning behaviors. These feelings and behaviors then make domestic violence a bigger problem than it already is, linking it to homelessness
A study conducted by the Department of Justice found that “at least one in four women were homeless as a result of domestic violence and a Massachusetts study found that a staggering 92% of homeless 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. It has become a number one concern for advocates of human rights, although not all, but many women who are tortured by their partners, leave and become homeless. Some people believe that the services provided for survivors are taking care of the issue, and others argue that even with hundreds of services and shelters, there is nothing done. Regardless, the reality is, domestic violence still remains the leading cause of homelessness in the United States.
A research conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for Women’s Rights summarizes the struggles women escaping abusive relationships go through. One of the struggles 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,21 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 abusive partners and continue bearing through the pain they once chose to leave. There is no support for them but hurdles everywhere they go. The families or network of supports leave their sides due to their own hardships forcing them to move elsewhere. For instance, 46 percent of homeless women in Minnesota in 2003 and same year, in North Dakota, 44 percent of homeless women were reported to live in unbearable relationships because again they they did not have any other housing options” (ACLU). In addition, “In a cross-sectional study that examined 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). Since majority of these women get cut off of or have limited support of family and friends, they go onto seeking jobs that barely help them survive.
Survivors of domestic violence often are poor which limits their choices and makes it difficult for them to escape abuse 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 the limits implaced, women can be tardy, absent and have lack of productivity at work, proven by research done at University of Michigan where “between 23% and 42% 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, majority of them feel isolated and do not ask or rely on family members or friends for any financial help due to their horrible experiences. Fear is another hardship women of domestic abuse face that leads them to being homeless. Due to fear, they isolate them from getting help or using any hotline, shelters or services provided for women going through similar problems. Abusers typically have the tendency to use violence to exercise power and control over their partners which isolates 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 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). 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 continues writing,
“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 is one of the many women who face the monstrous acts and due to fear piling up as one more issue in their lives, their only escape is to knock on shelters and remain homeless unless they work hard to build a better life and not rely on those services. Some try and win. Others try and get pushed back to where they first started because of loathsome landlords.
Many landlords instead of providing support have “adopted policies, such as ‘zero tolerance for crime’ policies, that penalize victims of domestic violence.” Landlords are able to expel tenants 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, “a 2005 investigation 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). As a result of fearing to be evicted women normally do not look for assistance and instead choose to live or beg on the streets. Living away from home, going through abuse and facing financial problems, most of the women are prone to having psychological disorders that affect them negatively.
Traumatized from their previous lives with a 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” which can be seen in the chart below.
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 much needed than ever before. People in need can look into 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
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. N.p.: ACLU Women's Rights Project, n.d. PDF.
"Domestic Violence and Homelessness: Statistics (2016)." FYSB: Family & Youth Services
Bureau. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 24 June 2016. Web.
Satyanathan, Deborah, and Anna Pollack. Domestic Violence and Poverty. N.p.: Purdue, n.d.
PDF.
"Francesca's Story." The National Domestic Violence Hotline. N.p., 19 Sept. 2017. Web. 21 Feb. 2018.
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. 2016, Vol. 9 Issue 1, p1-2. 10p. 6 Charts. Web.
“Domestic Violence”. Oxford Dictionary.Web.
“Posttraumatic Disorder”. Oxford Dictionary.Web.
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