Sec. 2. Findings

551 words·~3 min read·/bill/119/hr/7856/ih/section-2

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

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 four men in the United States have experienced rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in his or her lifetime. Intimate partner violence alone affects more than 10,000,000 people in the United States every 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 $8,300,000,000 each year, and that sexual violence results in more than $122,000 in lifetime costs per survivor and nearly $3,100,000,000,000 in costs to the United States economy across all 25,000,000 survivors in the United States.

Research indicates the following: 90 percent of homeless women report having experienced severe physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives, including sexual exploitation and trafficking. 84 percent of survivors in domestic violence shelters reported that they needed help finding affordable housing. More than half of 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 violence, including sexual victimization, exploitation, and sex trafficking.

Being homeless can increase an individual’s risk of experiencing violence, including sexual violence. Women and men who experienced food or housing insecurity in a 12-month period were more likely to experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the same period. Women of color, domestic violence survivors, and women with children are among those at the highest risk of eviction. 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.

Women who experience intimate partner violence are four times more likely to experience homelessness than those who do not. 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, have a past eviction or criminal record related to their experience as a survivor, are not aware of temporary shelter and housing resources available to survivors, or suffer from trauma that can make relocation feel impossible.

Survivors of domestic violence or sexual assault often face eviction based on a single incident of violence. 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. 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 abuse committed against them.

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. Securing safe and affordable housing for survivors is a fundamental component of ending domestic and sexual violence.