October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, an issue that significantly impacts child and family well-being, affecting our work as child advocates. Fortunately, many of the policy recommendations CCC champions have an impact on supporting families escaping domestic violence situations and finding opportunities to thrive. Our work in housing security for families is ramping up advocacy efforts that directly amplify solutions to an issue families escaping domestic violence regularly face: homelessness. 

Family Homelessness Impact  

CCC is a major advocate for housing security as a crucial component of child well-being. We work to prevent evictions for struggling families and to ensure all families in shelter are connected with stable housing as soon as possible. Though data shows that a significant share of families in New York City face severe rent burden, putting many households at risk of eviction and housing insecurity, it might come as a surprise to some that more families with children enter NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelters due to domestic violence than evictions. Data presented by New Destiny Housing (a CCC partner in the Family Homelessness Coalition) shows that in 2023, more than 1 in 5 families with children in the DHS shelter system identified domestic violence as the reason for their homelessness.  Uplifting child well-being via housing security efforts therefore must include advocacy around domestic violence prevention and supports.  

While children continue to be overrepresented in the NYC shelter system generally, they make up an even larger share of the shelter population in NYC’s Human Resources Administration’s (HRA) Domestic Violence Emergency Shelters. In 2022, 58% of HRA occupants were younger than 18, with children under 5 representing 28% of the total population (the largest age group).  

New Destiny’s report on domestic violence and homelessness also discusses a common occurrence that families dealing with domestic violence face when fleeing violent homes. In NYC, HRA shelters provide survivors with stabilizing services in confidential locations for up to 180 days, as per State regulation. However, due to both limited resources supporting access to permanent housing and the stay limit, most survivors are forced to relocate to another HRA facility or to a DHS shelter before reaching the State-mandated six-month cap, if not earlier. New Destiny reports that in 2023, survivors were 5 times more likely to move to another shelter than to permanent housing; over half of survivors moved to another shelter, while only 9% found a permanent home.  

Considering that most survivors in HRA shelters are children, this experience, sometimes referred to as the shelter-to-shelter pipeline, can have a lasting impact on child well-being. We know that children in shelter have higher rates of chronic absences from school (over 70% miss one out of 10 school days) and children experiencing homelessness have higher rates of exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and developmental delays. On top of this, homelessness is directly connected to economic insecurity, which has long-lasting health impact due to issues like correlated food insecurity and general healthcare access. A related NYC See report from the Anti-Violence Project states that 35% of advocates say the volatility of public benefits is a barrier to safety and well-being for survivors in shelter. Utilization of public benefits, like food stamps, that would help lift income for families is impacted by eligibility requirements that can be major obstacles to survivors, such as work requirements and immigration status. These barriers are also more likely to impact immigrants and women of color/BIPOC women and their children.  

Ultimately, spending time in shelter, particularly long periods of time, can have life-long effects on children. It is imperative that we do all we can in our communities to limit shelter exposure for children and families and expedite housing connection for any stays that are unavoidable.  

CCC’s Advocacy  

In our own priorities as well as shared priorities with partners as part of the Family Homelessness Coalition (FHC), CCC advocates for solutions to homelessness that would have a direct impact on survivor housing security. In testimony from the spring, CCC listed recommendations to better connect families in shelter to housing opportunities that touch on needs for survivors of domestic violence in shelter, including addressing the HRA staffing shortages and bolstering affordable housing access through HRA process streamlining. Read the testimony here.  

We also support a new pilot program, Project Home, that launched in April 2024. This program is meant to provide housing assistance to domestic violence survivors living in shelter to reduce the amount of time spent in shelter and increase permanent housing connection. The pilot will initially aid 100 families and CCC will monitor its progress and implementation.  

Additionally, CCC’s overall priorities to expand CityFHEPS rental assistance eligibility, implement a statewide section-8 voucher program (HAVP), and increase affordable housing are also imperative to helping families with children in shelter, including survivors of domestic violence.  

As we enter Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we must recommit to work that uplifts families impacted and experiencing homelessness. This advocacy remains essential to improving child well-being, and must be prioritized as a national survey shows that New York State reported the highest demand for domestic violence services in the country. And, domestic incident reports in New York City increased across all five boroughs after 2020, following a short lived decline.

Stay connected with CCC and FHC to learn more about housing advocacy and what you can do to support these priorities as we push forward to 2025.