Domestic violence is an major reason for the problem of homelessness among women as well as their kids. The major cities of Alaska struggle to tackle homelessness, particularly in winter when the stakes are more critical. Experts have also recognized domestic violence as a major source that flood cities with homeless.
“Probably all women in this shelter has been victimized by violent domestic assault,” said Mariya Lovishuk Director of Juneau’s emergency shelter, called the Glory Hall. “Most women who visit us have suffered domestic violence at least once throughout their lives. Perhaps not in the past but it certainly was serious and it’s impacted their lives.”
Lovishuk stated it’s not just the lack of affordable housing leave homeless people for longer, it may keep those in abusive relationships for a longer time as well. “Even even if they’d like to get out… staying in shelter isn’t an appealing option. They just stay,” she explained.
Lovishuk stated that since shelters are often chaotic She has seen people staying in abusive situations rather than navigating through them by themselves.
She noted that the lengthy process of obtaining affordable housing can take months to complete. those who wish to leave domestic violence, this timeframe can be longer than their determination to quit: “What we see is those who are engaged in domestic violence situations quit,” she said.
The effects of abuse are often detrimental to victims’ financial stability. It can, for instance, cause evictions due to problems at home, loss of employment because of absences from work or bad credit due to a partner’s financial actions. When combined with the insufficient supply accessible housing within the state, usually results in homelessness. Across the country, most women who are homeless have been victimized by domestic violence.
In Alaska in Alaska, where more than 20 percent of those who are homeless reported having an history or experience of domestic violence emergency shelters are creating permanent, long-term homes to protect families.
An increasing need
In Anchorage in Alaska, where the renter vacancy rate is less than 5percent homelessness can complicate the fight against domestic violence. The director of Abused Women’s Aid in Crisis which is the largest women’s emergency shelter in Alaska Director Suzi Pierson stated that homelessness is a major issue for the community.
“You’ve had more people living in the camps, which means more vulnerable people,” she said. “You are aware that in the close-knit living environment when you’re talking about camps, it’s extremely dangerous and the amount of drugs, violence, and all of those things are present within the camps. Therefore, it’s unsafe for those who suffer from domestic violence. They’re at risk of being a victim of any other type or crime.”
Due to the housing shortage in the state and consequent increase in homelessness she’s seen the typical duration of shelter stays increase — and the number of clients coming from rural areas.
“We often have people who are here for months due to the absence of shelter,” she said.
The problem with long-term stays is that there are less beds for those who are in need, Pierson said. Shelters assess risk using what’s called “lethality,” a chilling measurement that indicates the probability of someone being killed or injured. Shelter managers prefer to have rooms open in the event that someone with a high lethality has a need of shelter. In 2021, the shelter was expanded from 52 beds to the 67 bed capacity.
“You would like to have more housing so that you can help those entering housing who isn’t staying within your facility for lengthy periods of time, which means it is important to have bed readily available to people in urgent circumstances,” she said.
“Our rate of vacancies for shelters in the community is the zero mark,” Pierson said. “So there’s a lot of space here.”
The shelter is still able to accommodate for emergency situations and monitors calls to identify those who require shelter the in the most urgent need, Pierson said. The shelter does not have the resources to construct or provide housing for victims of domestic violence.
The development of an answer
The Fairbanks shelter houses more than two dozen housing units for those who have suffered domestic violence The Bethel shelter is working to build more permanent housing for survivors, and in Juneau, the domestic violence shelter constructed seven permanent housing units. Mandy Cole, the director of the local non-profit Aiding Women and Girls in Assault and Other Emergencies, says it’s what survivors most want.
“If you control your house’s door you can control who is allowed access to your family members, and to the body of your,” the woman said. “There’s no time between recovering from sexual and domestic violence as well as an affordable, secure, and independent housing.”
The shelter she manages had been aware of the shortage long before it became an statewide problem. Residents of the shelter had difficulty getting out due to the lack of affordable, safe housing alternatives.
In 2012 the shelter had incorporated the housing strategy to its longer-term plans, as the shelter was not a solution for housing.
“Emergency shelter is lifesaving. Absolutely. However, it can also be an excuse, in some ways, for recurring periods of homelessness and poverty,” she said. “This isn’t an unpopular idea. It’s not something that everyone knows about or would like to discuss however the evidence illustrates it quite easily: families that have generations of members are living in shelters for emergencies and are in need of shelter, they will have a difficult time navigating their way out of poverty, victims and violence, as well as the cycle of these issues in their lives, and also over generations of family members.”
The shelter began with shelters for transitional housing, but later it was expanded to offer financial assistance via what is referred to as rapid housing. Cole explained that this help is essential to protect people who leave domestic violence, as they are very vulnerable to homelessness.
“With people who are returning to working, if a small thing happens — for example it’s a few days without childcare or problems with transportation or medical issues -they are forced to leave their homes due to this,” the woman said. “Whereas those with more resources can take care of certain of these things, people living at the bottom of the food chain aren’t able to.”
The article was created as part of a project for the HTML2 project of theUSC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism 2023 Domestic Violence Impact Fund.
A complete catalog of Alaska shelters and services for victims providers is available here. .
