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63% of homeless women and 58% of
low-income housed women have experienced adult intimate partner violence
Bassuk, Perloff and Dawson, Multiply
Homeless Families: The Insidious Impact of Violence; HUD, Searching for Home:
Mentally Ill Homeless People in America
Nationally, approximately half of all women and children experiencing
homelessness are fleeing domestic violence.[48]
- Locally, the percentage is probably a bit higher.
Domestic violence causes in- and out-migration of homeless women and children
- women (both single women and women with children) who are fleeing domestic
violence come to Burlington from other areas of the state and from other states
seeking safety, and leave Burlington for the same reason.
Housing is the number one need identified by victims of domestic abuse.
Shelter may be necessary for short-term safety, but there must be housing
options that allow victims to permanently leave the abusive situation.
- Under a new local "fast-track" program, the Vermont Department of
PATH pays emergency rent assistance directly to the Burlington Housing Authority
(which has dedicated 10 Section 8 vouchers for that purpose) instead of to
motels or other temporary shelter - which means that women and their children
are moving into permanent housing within three weeks of leaving their abusive
situation, and saves money.
- The Vermont State Housing Authority also gives a
priority to victims of domestic abuse.
Mental health and substance abuse issues often co-occur with domestic
violence.
Strategies that focus on marriage promotion/stability do not serve the
interests of victims of domestic abuse.
[48]
National Coalition for the Homeless, September 2002, citing Zorza, J., Woman
Battering: A Major Cause of Homelessness, Clearinghouse Review, 25(4)
(1991). Qtd. In National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, The
Importance of Financial Literacy, Oct. 2001.
Page last updated March 5, 2004
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