Photo Credit: National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week
Just before Thanksgiving, the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness co-sponsor National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. It’s a campaign that calls upon the public to come together and find solutions to feed and house those who need it. However, many may not be aware that the fight against homelessness and hunger is intertwined with the fight against gender-based violence. This week, we will be looking into how the unhoused and food insecure are more vulnerable to gender-based violence as well as the ways we can all do our part to make our communities safer for all.
Despite being the wealthiest country in the world, homelessness and food insecurity run rampant in the United States. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress found that, “On a single night in 2023, roughly 653,100 people – or about 20 of every 10,000 people in the United States – were experiencing homelessness.” Feeding America reports that, “47 million people, including 14 million children, experience food insecurity annually.” When we see alarming numbers like this, it’s important to look at the story they can tell about how this happened and what they can indicate about current dangers to these populations. Part of that story is gender-based violence.
Safe Housing Partnerships reported that domestic violence is, “a leading cause of homelessness for women and children (over 40% of family homelessness).” When these women flee their abusive partners, they leave their belongings, resources, and connections behind to protect themselves (and their children) from imminent danger. Leaving an abuser is a brave thing to do, and it is even more difficult when they know that they don’t have a safe place to land. In fact, the ACLU reports that nearly half of domestic violence survivors, “stayed in abusive relationships because they had nowhere to go.” Both of these statistics reflect a very disturbing truth…transitional housing and other resources for unhoused domestic abuse survivors are woefully underfunded.
The National Network to End Domestic Violence’s (NNEDV’s) 2023 Domestic Violence Counts Report summarizes its findings from 1,642 participating domestic violence programs about their services on a single day. One of their findings was that:
“Victims made 12,692 requests for services on the survey day—including emergency shelter, housing, hotel vouchers, childcare, and legal representation— that programs could not provide because they did not have the resources. Approximately 53% of these unmet requests were for emergency shelter, hotels, motels, and other housing.”
This inability to meet the needs of survivors is directly tied to a lack of funding felt by all victim services programs across the country. Earlier this year, RALIANCE’s Policy Director Terri Poore wrote about how the Victim of Crime Act’s (VOCA’s) Crime Victims Fund (CVF), which is a fund meant to support victim services throughout the United States, experienced a $700 million (40% cut) in FY 2024. This past year is just the latest in a series of CVF decreases, and has directly impacted the capacity and sustainability of survivor-serving programs and organizations nationally. For domestic abuse survivors who wish to leave, we are presenting so many of them with only two options: live on the streets or maintain consistent contact with your abuser. It’s an impossible decision that no survivor should be forced to make.
While homelessness can happen to anyone, certain populations face an increased risk to it like racial minorities, LGBT youth, and veterans. Similarly, racial minorities, LGBT youth, and veterans/current uniformed service members are also more likely to experience sexual violence. Both facts lead us to understand that experiencing sexual violence puts people at greater risk for future vulnerabilities, including homelessness.  This reflects the finding that 90% homeless women have a history of, “severe physical or sexual abuse at some point in their lives, and 63% have been victims of intimate partner violence as adults.”
Once someone becomes homeless, their needs become more desperate and they’re more likely to encounter dangerous situations or engage in dangerous behaviors. For example, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center notes that more than 1 in 3 of homeless youth engaged in survival sex, with 48% of them trading sex for food or a place to stay. Their dire circumstances forces them to engage in otherwise unwanted sexual acts, and leaves them open to manipulation and abuse from people offering food, shelter, or other life-sustaining resources.
While the issue of homelessness and food insecurity is dire, it is also not impossible to tackle. For employers and community members who wish to aid survivors in finding stable living environments free of gender-based violence, we have the following suggestions:
Contact Legislators
The most immediate way to help survivors is to ensure their local and state assistance programs can meet their needs. Employers and community members can contact their legislators to pass the bipartisan Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act of 2024 and restore funding to VOCA. The NNEDV has provided a phone script and action alert to make this process easier.
Offer Matched Giving or Host a Fundraiser/Food Drive
While your local programs may have to wait to receive federal funding to keep themselves afloat, there’s plenty that can be done in the near future. Consider establishing a matched giving program as we get closer to the holidays, or add a local homeless shelter/rape crisis center to your organization’s matched donation list. Your organization or community center may also want to consider hosting a fundraiser or food drive to provide food, clothes, or other resources to the unhoused people in your area. Visit Feeding America’s blog, “What to donate to a food bank and what to avoid” to get an idea of what foods would be most needed.
Community-Build with Local Programs
There may be services your organization specializes in that could be of great value to your local homeless shelter, domestic violence hotline/center, or rape crisis center. Your organization may also have a corporate connection that could further bolster their mission. There may be another need that you and your organization have not even thought of! Set up a meeting with a representative from these programs and organizations to learn about the ways you can be uniquely suited to collaborate and build up a safer community for all.
The fight to end homelessness, food insecurity, and gender-based violence will not be won overnight. However, when all parts of a community can come together, we can create a world in which everyone’s life-sustaining needs are met, their physical safety is ensured, and their quality of life can soar.
RALIANCE is a trusted adviser for organizations committed to building cultures that are safe, equitable, and respectful. RALIANCE offers unparalleled expertise in serving survivors of sexual harassment, misconduct, and abuse which drives our mission to help organizations across sectors create inclusive environments for all. For more information, please visit www.RALIANCE.org.
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