Toward Safety - Understanding Intimate Partner Violence and Homelessness - Findings from the California Statewide Study

To better understand the experiences of survivors of IPV who are currently experiencing homelessness, the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative analyzed data related to IPV in the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness (CASPEH)—the largest representative study of homelessness since the mid- 1990s. [...] Of participants who reported IPV prior to homelessness and indi- cated violence was a reason they lost their housing, Toward Safety: Understanding Intimate Partner Violence and Homelessness 3 Introduction The federal definition In 2023, 653,100 people in the United of homelessness States and 181,399 in California includes those fleeing experienced homelessness on a single or attempting to flee nig. [...] Domestic FIGURE 2 Where Participants Who violence shelters have reasons for these requirements, experienced IPV in the Six Months Prior to Homelessness and Reported Violence including to ensure the safety of other residents and as a Reason for Losing Housing Stayed to help allocate scarce resources. [...] Nearly all discussed With limited access to DV shelters, many who face challenges in accessing services and support for homelessness caused by IPV wind up living in the survivors, and the ways in which homelessness pres- shadows, in a spiraling cycle of homelessness and vi- ents an ongoing risk of future violence. [...] Given the disproportionate impact of IPV on communities of color, and gender and sexual minority communities, programs and services should be responsive to the experiences of survivors from racially and ethnically minoritized back- grounds and from the LGBTQI+ community.