A terrible choice: domestic violence or no place to live

OPINION – When Rita looked at herself in the mirror, she was frightened by her thinning hair and gaunt appearance. She knew it was time to escape the abuse that was eroding her health and her self-worth. She fled to a shelter in her county but was told there was no space for her. The “domestic violence” beds were full. The remaining shelter beds were reserved for people who were chronically homeless, and she didn’t qualify.

Rita slept on the streets for a time, feeling exposed, not knowing how she would get food or clean clothes. She was forced to make the painful decision to return to her home — and to her abuser. After cycling in and out of domestic violence at home and living on the streets, Rita realized she had a stark choice: stay home and be abused by her partner or stay on the streets to face abuse by multiple strangers every day.

Finally, she found a shelter that would provide a place for her for one year. While she had a place to sleep, the room was bleak, she had little support, and little hope of getting safe permanent housing.

Rita’s awful dilemma illustrates the deeply intertwined relationship between domestic violence — also called intimate partner violence — and homelessness, and her story reflects the findings of a new statewide study of homelessness that shows how intimate partner violence is a precursor to homelessness.  Researchers from the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at University of California San Francisco found that 40% of those who experienced intimate partner violence in the six months before their homelessness identified it as a reason they left their home, and 20% said it was the main reason.

Stories of survivors being unable to find shelter to meet their needs are all too common. In the UCSF study, 81% of participants affected by intimate partner violence during their current episode of homelessness reported spending most of their nights in unsheltered settings — outdoors or in other places not meant for habitation, such as cars.

It is clear. Homelessness and domestic violence cannot be solved without addressing both issues.

Solutions exist. Domestic Violence Housing First is a proven program that tackles these problems together. The program provides survivors of domestic violence with safe, permanent housing and ongoing, trauma-informed services tailored to meet their needs along with flexible funding to allow survivors to choose how to rebuild their lives.

More than 17,000 people received services through Domestic Violence Housing First in a single year.  That lifeline is in jeopardy as California braces to lose more than half of its funding from the federal Victims of Crime Act in 2025 for Housing First and other housing programs. These funding cuts will increase housing instability and homelessness for survivors of domestic violence, forcing many more to make that impossible choice: their safety or the roof over their heads.

In fiscal year 2021-2022, California domestic violence service providers had 15,706 unmet requests for services. As programs face deep budget cuts due to the loss of the grants funded by the Victims of Crime Act, unmet requests for safe housing will skyrocket even further.

A bill in the California Assembly — AB2432 — proposes short-term and long-term solutions. By supporting these efforts and continuing to commit to providing flexible funding through Domestic Violence Housing First, we can prevent devastation from these funding cuts.

Rita and others like her in abusive relationships should be able to leave these relationships without plunging themselves into another dangerous situation. To keep survivors from that impossible choice, California needs to replace federal funding being taken from Housing First and other programs that help survivors into stable housing.

Debbie I. Chang, MPH, is President and CEO of the Blue Shield of California Foundation, which supports work to end domestic violence.  Paul Castro, JD, is interim Executive Director of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.