Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress makes the following findings: Cities, towns, and rural communities in the United States continue to face enormous challenges regarding domestic violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, dating violence, stalking, and other forms of intimate partner and gender-based violence. One in three women and one in ten men in the United States have experienced rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Intimate partner violence alone affects more than 12,000,000 people in the United States every year.
Approximately 7,000,000 women are raped or physically assaulted by a current or former intimate partner each year. Among women experiencing sex trafficking, many of their traffickers are also their intimate partners. Each day, an average of three women are killed by a current or former partner. Researchers estimate that domestic violence costs employers up to $13,000,000,000 each year. A fundamental component of ending domestic and sexual violence is securing safe and affordable housing for survivors.
Research indicates that: As many as fifty-seven percent of homeless women report that domestic violence was the immediate cause of their homelessness. Ninety-two percent of homeless women report having experienced severe physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives, including sexual exploitation and trafficking. Eighty-four percent of survivors in domestic violence shelters reported that they needed help finding affordable housing. The National Network to End Domestic Violence’s DV Counts Report finds that the majority of survivors’ unmet needs are related to housing and shelter.
In another nationwide study, more than half of the victims who identified a need for housing services did not receive them. Survivors who become homeless as a result of sexual assault are vulnerable to further sexual victimization and exploitation including sex trafficking. Women of color in the lowest income category experience six times the rate of nonfatal intimate partner violence compared to white women in the highest income category. Poor women of color, domestic violence survivors, and women with children are among those at the highest risk of eviction.
Housing insecurity can exacerbate survivors’ vulnerability. Women and men who experienced food or housing insecurity in a 12-month period had a significantly higher prevalence of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in that same time period, as compared to those who did not experience food or housing insecurity. Vulnerable women are also at risk of sex trafficking and exploitation by landlords who pressure them for sex in exchange for rent or a delay in rent payments.
Approximately thirty-eight percent of all survivors of domestic violence become homeless at some point in their life. Surveys show that a majority of survivors who experience a sexual assault in their home do not relocate to a safe environment because they do not have sufficient funds and are not aware of better options. Domestic and sexual violence survivors often find themselves trapped in homes where they are further victimized by caregivers, parents, siblings, landlords, intimate partners, neighbors, or others in or near their home.
Economic insecurity and the trauma that often follows sexual violence make it difficult, if not impossible, for many survivors to access safe, affordable housing options for themselves and their families. Domestic and sexual violence survivors continue to face discrimination in securing and maintaining housing based on their status as survivors and as a result of crimes committed against them. Research by the Attorney General of the State of New York found that sixty-seven percent of domestic violence survivors reported that discrimination by landlords is a significant obstacle in obtaining housing.
Research also shows that survivors of domestic violence or sexual assault are commonly denied housing opportunities if a previous residence of the survivor was a domestic violence shelter, if the survivor has secured a protective order, or if there is other evidence that the survivor has experienced a previous domestic violence incident. Studies show that survivors of domestic violence or sexual assault often face eviction based on a single domestic violence incident. Survivors of sex trafficking face additional challenges in obtaining and maintaining housing due to criminal records incurred as a direct result of their exploitation.
It is in the public interest to ensure that survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, dating violence, stalking, and other forms of intimate partner and gender-based violence are not discriminated against, particularly with respect to housing, based on their status as victims of the crimes committed against them.