Domestic Violence Survivors Face a Silent Crisis Due to Lack of Affordable Housing

Community Housing Network Employee Draws on Personal Experience to Help Victims of Abuse Find Supportive Resources, Housing Assistance

When Laura Dillaber made the difficult and life-changing decision to leave her abusive husband five and a half years ago, her hope of building a new life with her children was increased by her ability to get herself out safely.

“I knew that I had an advantage others may not,” she said. “I had the privilege of having a job, knowing where to find resources for a lawyer, money, a vehicle, and I’m a White woman.”

Domestic violence victims come from all walks of life, but many survivors in marginalized and underserved communities experience higher rates of abuse along with greater systemic barriers to seeking help and accessing resources, according to the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV).

These resources include everything from childcare to transportation to medical treatment for physical injuries, to legal services – all of which cost money that many survivors do not have when they are financially dependent upon their abuser.

Couple that with a criminal justice system that Laura said lets survivors down through lax laws, dismissive law enforcement officers and the culture it helps create.

“While I was going through my divorce, I realized that those who are abused are treated as the guilty party. I was very angry and frustrated having to prove my innocence,” she said, adding that being shamed or treated as the suspect rather than the victim in court prevents many survivors from seeking justice.

“There were many times I almost returned to my abusive marriage because of the constant fight and fear of him destroying me and having custody of the kids,” said Laura, who remembers thinking many times that “it might just be easier to give up and go back.”

But she didn’t because she had a support system encouraging her along the way and most importantly, she had a roof over her head. She didn’t have to remain for months in a shelter or search in vain for a place to live with her children as so many other families do.

Without safe, suitable, and affordable housing, domestic violence continues to be reported as the immediate and leading cause of homelessness among women and their children. It’s the primary barrier that survivors of domestic violence face when they choose to flee their homes to escape danger. When we wonder why someone doesn’t just leave their abusive partner, sometimes the answer is as simple as “Where would they go?”

The Intersection of Homelessness and Domestic Violence

A high percentage of individuals from Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne counties who contact Community Housing Network (CHN) for support disclose a history of domestic violence.

The Michigan State Police received more than 65,000 reports of domestic violence in 2020. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) reports that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced some sort of physical violence by an intimate partner. Research shows that victims under-report, so the real number of victims is between 30-50 percent higher.

The reasons are varied, but it’s not uncommon to hear that an abuser has sabotaged a survivor’s economic stability. As a result of financial abuse, they may not have had access to the family finances, have been prohibited from working, or have had their credit scores destroyed by an abusive partner. This makes it even more difficult to find a rental unit, which is already hard to come by.

For every 100 extremely low-income renter households, only 30 rental units are readily available and affordable, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).

When housing is available, many survivors face discrimination in accessing or maintaining housing based on the violent or criminal actions of their abusers. Additionally, survivors are limited in the locations and types of housing they can access because of their unique safety and confidentiality needs, and many housing or homelessness assistance programs have barriers that inadvertently exclude survivors of violence.

CHN is working to educate landlords that are adamant about rental income coming directly from renters, and not the agencies helping them. The organization has been advocating for source of income protections. Until recently, landlords in Michigan were legally allowed to refuse Housing Choice Vouchers as a form of payment for rent. The Michigan Senate recently passed Senate Bills 205, 206, and 207, to ban landlords from discriminating against tenants based on the source of income they use to pay their rent – but the bill’s effectiveness is highly limited by exemption.

This comes at a time when housing options have become scarcer, and survivors are staying longer in emergency domestic violence shelters. As a result, shelters are frequently full and must turn families away. Bear in mind that the average stay at an emergency homeless shelter is 60 days, while the average time it takes a family experiencing homelessness to secure housing is six to ten months.

Even then, survivors on limited incomes cannot always afford to live near the jobs, schools, and service providers that help them move forward after abuse.

Supporting Survivors of Domestic Violence

“Abusive situations should not be so difficult to get away from, and so many do not have much chance with no support. I want to help change that,” said Laura, who was lucky enough to escape an abusive 20-year marriage. She packed up her clothes and her kids in her car and hid out until she was ready to proceed with a divorce.

Laura was awarded physical custody of her two youngest boys, child support, and was approved for a domestic relationship personal protection order. This included setting up a confidential address and the option to communicate through OurFamilyWizard, a court-recommended co-parenting app.

Survivors have found it difficult in the past to maintain any form of privacy. They had to learn how their information could possibly be shared and be proactive about preventing it or limiting it, knowing that, in many cases, it just wasn’t possible.

Now, Michigan has joined 39 other states by signing into law in 2020 the Address Confidentiality Program to shield an approved applicant’s personal information from appearing on certain public records.

While going through her divorce, Laura spent a lot of time processing and healing from her trauma.

“I couldn’t help but think about all of the individuals who may have it harder than me though, be in more danger than me, and terrified, wondering how they would be able to divorce their abusive partner or escape without going back,” she said.

That’s when Laura decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in social work at Oakland University in Rochester. She graduated earlier this year and is focused on being a single mother of six children and a “Gigi” to two granddaughters while applying her skills and using her lived experience to help support other survivors of domestic violence so they can thrive.

“Without the resources I had access to, I thought about how much harder it would be for someone with less. Or how impossible it might seem,” she said. “If someone had not been there for me, I may not be where I am today.”

It will take the community at large, including agency partners and elected officials, to come together to address a lack of affordable housing, which is solvable with the right policies and investment in place, according to NNEDV.

Beyond streamlining systems and finding holistic solutions to address domestic violence, advocates are encouraged to educate members of Congress about why eviction prevention, flexible funding, emergency shelter, transitional housing, and permanent housing are essential for survivors.

The NNEDV points to federal laws and programs that cannot reach their full potential in meeting survivors’ housing needs without an increase in program funding, the full implementation of new and existing Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) housing protections, and attention to survivors’ needs via the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act (HEARTH).

Specifically, advocates should ask the House and Senate Appropriations Committee to increase investments in domestic violence shelter and housing programs including:

• In the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill, $100 million for VAWA Transitional Housing.

• In the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bill, $500 million for Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services (FVPSA)/ domestic violence shelters, including cash assistance that can be utilized for housing and housing-related expenses.

• In the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) bill, support $75 million designated for domestic violence housing and encourage Continuum of Care (CoC) and Emergency Solutions Grants funding processes to reflect the needs of victims of domestic violence and $15 million to ensure compliance and implementation of VAWA, support a VAWA office, and provide related training and technical assistance.

• Continued incremental housing vouchers/stability vouchers for the Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS) to provide vouchers for use by survivors of domestic violence, or individuals and families who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness.

NLIHC publishes an Advocates Guide every year to educate advocates of all kinds about the programs and policies that make housing affordable to all low-income people across America, ensuring advocates know exactly what to tell their legislators.

Find the contact information for your members of Congress online or call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

Michigan Bill Package Extends Firearms Ban for Domestic Abusers

In November 2023, legislation cleared the Michigan House that extends gun restrictions to eight years (up from three years) and adds specific misdemeanors as being considered in domestic violence, including breaking and entering and vulnerable adult abuse, if the violator were the victim’s spouse or former spouse, had a dating relationship with the victim, had a child in common with the victim, or was a resident or former resident of the victim’s household.

Senate Bill 471, sponsored by state Sen. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit), Senate Bill 528, sponsored by state Sen. Sue Shink (D-Northfield Twp.), and House Bill 4945, sponsored by state Rep. Amos O’Neal (D-Saginaw), all passed 58-52, with Reps. Mark Tisdel (R-Rochester Hills) and Tom Kuhn (R-Troy) joining all Democrats to make it a bipartisan effort.

Once Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signs this legislation, Michigan will join 31 other states with similar laws on the books that protect victims from those who display a propensity for violence.