Domestic Violence
In Minnesota, the most common reason for women to enter a shelter is domestic violence.
According to the Wilder Research Center, nearly one in five women experiencing homelessness in Minnesota say that one of their main reasons for leaving housing was to flee abuse, and nearly a quarter of women say that they are homeless, at least in part, because of a previous abuse experience.
The Minnesota Center for Crime Victim Services reports that battered women in Minnesota sought almost 100,000 nights of shelter during 2001; yet battered women’s shelters have a turn-away rate of 53 percent due to a lack of space.
According to some estimates, among homeless women and children, approximately half are fleeing domestic violence. Nearly 25 percent of children experiencing homelessness havewitnessed acts of violence in their families, usually against their mother.
And, children experiencing homelessness experience physical and sexual abuse at two to three times the rate of other children.
12 counties in MN have no domestic violence program at all (report of the Interagency Task Force on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault)
Links for Further Research
Further information on the impact of homelessness on domestic violence can be found at:
