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People experiencing domestic violence often confront an impossible choice: Stay in an abusive relationship to remain housed, or leave and face homelessness. Whichever choice they make carries enormous health and safety risks. Leaving without a safe place to go puts survivors and their families at risk of further violence as well as health problems from living on the streets or in other unstable housing conditions.
Findings from a 2023 study by the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at the University of California, San Francisco highlight how closely domestic violence and homelessness are intertwined. Researchers found that 40% of survivors who experienced intimate partner violence in the six months prior to homelessness identified it as a reason they left their home. One in 5 said it was the main reason.
Homelessness exacerbates the threat of violence. If a survivor does not have a safe place to sleep, the partner who caused harm can still find them. Unhoused survivors are also vulnerable to violence from strangers. A 2022 community needs assessment that surveyed almost 600 women experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County found that more than half had been victims of a crime while homeless. Of those surveyed, 43% said they’d been attacked or threatened. Seeking protection, some survivors enter another abusive relationship or return to the partner they fled.
While domestic violence affects people from all socioeconomic backgrounds, survivors with low incomes are more likely to face homelessness because they have fewer means to pay for housing. In the Benioff study, participants who reported intimate partner violence in the six months prior to becoming homeless had a median monthly household income of $1,000. Intimate partner violence can also create economic insecurity because it almost always involves financial abuse. A partner may steal money, property or the identity of the survivor, make it difficult for them to seek or keep employment, and isolate them from family and friends who could provide support. That leaves many survivors without the means to find or maintain housing for themselves, a problem exacerbated by high rent costs in many areas.
One reason homelessness is such a common experience among domestic violence survivors is a lack of sufficient shelter beds and long-term housing support. Domestic violence shelters are overwhelmed by high demand and often can’t take in everyone who needs help, and the accommodation they do offer is temporary. Meanwhile, siloed government funding for domestic violence and homeless services limits which programs survivors qualify for.
Because domestic violence is so closely intertwined with homelessness, programs that tackle both issues are essential. Policy recommendations from the UCSF study include increasing access to affordable, permanent housing options for survivors, and promoting policies that center both violence and homelessness prevention. One promising development in California is Domestic Violence Housing First, a program that uses flexible cash assistance and ongoing support services to prevent homelessness among domestic violence survivors. Recent federal funding cuts threaten this program, but so far the state has been able to backfill those funds.
