Intimate Partner Violence and Housing Instability

Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence among Women Veterans who Utilize Veterans Health Administration Primary Care

“…Past-year IPV was associated with indicators of economic hardship, including lower levels of employment, receipt of public assistance, low income and past-year homelessness. Although we are not able to discern the temporal nature of these relationships, there is a substantial literature that suggests unemployment, 35 reliance on public assistance, 36 and homelessness [37][38][39] to be consequences of IPV. This set of findings suggests that policies to promote economic empowerment among women who experience IPV are relevant to meeting the needs of women Veterans.…”

Conceptualizing Housing Instability: Experiences with Material and Psychological Instability Among Women Living with Partner Violence

“…That is, women defined housing (in)stability through the causes and consequences of violence-isolation, unemployment, economic strain, loss of control over one's life, lack of safety, loss of identity, and psychological distress to name a few. Their perceptions and experiences of both the psychological and material aspects of housing during the three periods (summarized in Figure 1) guide our investigation on housing instability among this sample as do the expanded notions of material and psychological housing concerns described by Dupuis, Dunn and others (Baker et al, 2010;Dunn, 2002;Pavao et al, 2007;Shaw, 2004). We seek to contribute to the literature on unstable housing, in particular for women experiencing IPV, by going beyond documenting correlations between IPV and unstable housing to capture the processes by violence leads directly and indirectly to material and, in particular, psychological housing instability.…”

“…Pavao et al (2007) compared housing instability among women who reported experiencing past-year IPV versus those who did not; housing instability was measured by late mortgage/rent payments, being without one's own housing, and moving more than once over a 12-month period (Pavao et al, 2007). Those who had experienced partner violence had almost four times the odds of experiencing housing instability compared to women who did not report partner violence.…”

“…Other definitions encompass related determinants that limit access to stable housing, including difficulty paying bills or moving because of partner harassment, or greater discrimination by landlords (e.g., refusing to rent to women known to be fleeing abuse) (Barata & Stewart, 2010). Sometimes, information on housing instability is lost as data on housing problems are combined into a single dichotomous or count variable, thereby precluding a nuanced understanding of how each of the instability factors may be uniquely related to IPV or well-being (Pavao et al, 2007;Rollins et al, 2012).…”

“…There are not even agreed-upon definitions of housing instability, as reflected by the myriad measures used by studies within the IPV literature. Measures of housing instability are sometimes limited to the housing itself, such as difficulty paying rent or mortgages, inability to secure housing due to credit problems, paying 50 per cent or more of income to meet housing costs, eviction threats or notices, frequent moves, crowding, or doubling up with family or friends (Pavao et al, 2007;Rollins et al, 2012). Other definitions encompass related determinants that limit access to stable housing, including difficulty paying bills or moving because of partner harassment, or greater discrimination by landlords (e.g., refusing to rent to women known to be fleeing abuse) (Barata & Stewart, 2010).…”