Indianapolis has an ongoing domestic violence crisis. A proliferation of guns in our city makes this a danger not just to the partners and children subjected to an abuser’s need for power and control, but also to the community at-large as domestic violence spills over into schools, childcares and places of employment.
Yearly, IMPD responds to more than 30,000 calls related to domestic violence (DV), and women in Indiana are 20% more likely than the national average to experience DV in their lifetime. Yet these numbers are likely much higher because many people don’t report because they fear potential negative consequences of getting authorities involved.
When leaving an abusive relationship results in homelessness, that trauma is compounded by new dangers. Homelessness is dangerous for anyone, but it’s even more dangerous for women and those being stalked by an abuser seeking to regain control.
In Indianapolis, about 500 households per year enter the city’s coordinated system for homelessness because of DV, but fewer than 1 in 5 will be housed within a year. Even fewer will be housed in a program that offers services that address the trauma of domestic violence. Black women are overrepresented in the homeless system, and improving the way we house DV survivors will reduce Black homelessness.
Trauma significantly impacts the brain, shrinking the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for executive function and regulating emotions. It also shrinks the hippocampus, disrupting appropriate memory function, and overactivates the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for survival.
Together these impacts can trap survivors into difficulty making decisions and remembering necessary tasks or information, or endless cycles of anxiety. With our city’s emergency DV shelter being continually at full capacity, survivors have nowhere to turn. It’s clear why more people experiencing abuse don’t “just leave.”
DV hurts everyone, but children pay the highest price. Most adult survivors and perpetrators of DV grew up in households marred by control and violence. Those who witness or experience DV in their homes as children are three times more likely to grow up and be abused or perpetrate abuse.
This year, Coburn Place, Damien Center, Salvation Army and Partners in Housing came together to consider how Indianapolis might build a better way to ensure DV survivors are housed more quickly and receive needed services while they await housing. It will take time and coordinated efforts, but there are steps we are taking as a community. First, we are partnering with emergency domestic violence service providers like Indy Champions, Firefly and The Julian Center to close the gaps between that system and the system that provides housing. Working together, we can start by reducing survivors’ sense of feeling shuffled around and lost in the cracks between these systems.
Increased focus on this vulnerable population will shine more light on our city’s emergency DV services being stretched to a breaking point. Indianapolis currently only has enough DV housing for less than 30% of the households who need it.
Housing programs that offer high-quality, survivor-centered services to overcome the trauma associated with domestic violence can and do make a difference. The ability to live rent and utility-free for one to two years with evidence-based supportive services gives survivors the opportunity to heal, set and reach their own goals and address individual and family trauma.
Last year, 91% of survivors who completed the program at Coburn Place were stably and permanently housed afterward. One hundred percent of survivors said they feel safer and more hopeful about the future.
Domestic violence is a trauma from which people can recover, but it starts with housing first.
Rachel Scott is the president and CEO of Coburn Place Safe Haven in Indianapolis.
