Flexible Funds

Flexible funding is financial support provided to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault (DV/SA) to address whatever barrier exists between the survivor and safe housing stability. This document addresses frequently asked questions about flexible funding, including why it is an important housing strategy for survivors, what flexible funding can be used for, and more.

This research brief provides a brief overview of the current and expanding evidence behind best practices in helping domestic violence survivors obtain safe and stable housing. It begins with evidence for three common core components of this work: mobile advocacy, flexible funding, and attending to safety. It then provides evidence for how services should be provided: survivor-driven, trauma-informed, and voluntary.

An estimated 15.5 million American children are exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) every year. Such exposure negatively impacts children’s health, development and academic performance and may also be accompanied by housing instability or homelessness. Children growing up with periods of homelessness or housing instability are at risk for many of the same detrimental outcomes as children exposed to IPV. This brief highlights key findings from a qualitative, longitudinal study examining mothers’ perceptions of how receipt of flexible funding designed to increase their housing stability may have also impacted their children’s safety, stress, mood and behavior.

This presentation describes how flexible funds are employed in a DV housing program in Washington DC as a means to prevent homelessness for survivors. Further, it discusses the elements and results of a longitudinal pilot study that tested whether this project (DASH's Survivor Resiliency Fund) represents a promising strategy to prevent homelessness for survivors of intimate partner violence.

Describes results of an evaluation of DASH's Survivor Resilience Fund, a low-barrier and trauma informed approach to homelessness prevention for survivors.

Rapid re-housing can work for survivors of DV — with a great deal of flexibility around the services and the length and depth of rental assistance provided.

WSCADV's Domestic Violence Housing First approach focuses on getting survivors of domestic violence into stable housing as quickly as possible, and then providing the necessary support as they rebuild their lives. This web page provides an overview of WSCADV's work to implement this approach in Washington state and includes resources, toolkits, and evaluation of the impact of their projects.

WSCADV's Domestic Violence Housing First (DVHF) program was designed to eliminate housing as a reason for survivors to stay in abusive relationships by providing flexible advocacy. This approach gave survivors of domestic violence the ability to establish a home and the freedom to choose how best to rebuild their lives. Permanent housing was the beginning of their new journey. The first phase of the DVHF program began with a cohort of four domestic violence agencies. The second phase, known as Cohort 2, expanded the program to nine additional agencies. Cohort 2 agencies served survivors with higher barriers to housing, including those living in rural, tribal, immigrant, and culturally specific communities.

Summary of promising practices for responding to survivors' long-term housing needs.