This is the first of a series of papers published by the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Volunteers of America Home Free Program in Portland, OR.
Because domestic violence (DV) survivors are affected by many of the same social forces that affect anyone struggling to find and keep housing, the battered women’s movement and the homeless movement have followed parallel paths. Federal cuts in subsidized housing have greatly limited access to affordable housing for low-income people, among them millions of DV survivors and their children struggling with housing instability and compromised safety. The intent of this paper is to outline briefly the parallel paths of these movements and highlight where they intersect.