Undercounted: Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence Who Are Experiencing Homelessness

Approximately 47% of women in the United States will experience intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime. This includes physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, stalking, and controlling behavior.

Women who experience intimate partner violence are four times more likely to experience homelessness than those who do not. Recognizing this connection, in 2016 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development expanded its definition of homelessness to include individuals fleeing or attempting to flee violence. However, the Department’s annual census of the homeless population, the Point in Time Count, carried out by local continuums of care and used to direct money and other resources to fight homelessness, may not fully capture the scope of IPV-related homelessness.

With funding from the Bloomberg American Health Initiative, Michele Decker, Bloomberg Professor of American Health in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Assistant Scientist Kristin Bevilacqua, and Bloomberg Fellow Janice Miller, with her organization, House of Ruth Maryland, set out to quantify this “undercount” in publicly available data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Point in Time Count includes provisions to enumerate sheltered individuals, including those in domestic violence shelters; Decker and Miller sought to determine how well these systems interface and whether they fully capture IPV survivors within their estimates. 

In 2019 and 2020, Decker and Miller surveyed domestic violence shelters (130 in 2019 and 131 in 2020) across 35 different states to determine if they participated in the Point in Time Count and, critically, if they shared their sheltered estimates through this system. Among continuums of care represented by respondent-shelters, in 2019, the Department reported 13,993 sheltered survivors, while Decker and Miller estimated the actual number at 15,216—an undercount of 1,223, or 8.0%. In 2020, the Department reported 14,319 survivors, whereas Decker and Miller estimated 15,669, revealing an undercount of 1,350, or 8.6%.

The connection between intimate partner violence and housing instability is well studied. Many survivors face financial abuse, in which a partner controls their access to money, employment, or credit, making it difficult to secure stable housing. Others are forced to leave their homes abruptly to escape violence, often without financial resources or a safe place to go. Systemic barriers, including restrictive shelter policies, lack of affordable housing, and stigma, further compound their risk of homelessness. Without proper support and resources, many survivors cycle between unstable housing situations, shelters, and even returning to abusive relationships due to economic necessity.

Decker and Miller’s research underscores the urgent need to better integrate IPV service providers into the Point in Time Count process to capture the true scale of homelessness among survivors of intimate partner violence. With more accurate data, resources can be better allocated to support survivors and provide a path to long-term housing stability

During this project, Miller transitioned to a new role at the Technical Assistance Collaborative, where she continues to work to help survivors of intimate partner violence.