Alongside the housing crisis, a safety crisis: Renters 3X more likely to be victims of serious violence, report finds
WASHINGTON – A new report from the Alliance for Safety and Justice (ASJ) reveals a violent side of America’s housing crisis: along with major financial strain caused by rising rents and inflation renters are far more likely to become victims of violence. Renters are three-times more likely to suffer aggravated assault, robbery, rape and sexual assault than Americans in owner-occupied housing. The disparity persists across income levels, racial and ethnic groups, and age, according to analyses of federal data released today by ASJ.
The report, “The Keys to Safety,” highlights the parallel housing and safety crises affecting the 35% of Americans who rent their homes. Rising rents have left many renters with few financial resources at the same time that housing policies have left renters unable to take many steps to make themselves safe. Housing policies can take the keys to safety – secure housing, the ability to move to safe housing, and the authority to make a home safe – out of the hands of many Americans.
“People who rent their homes bear the brunt of violence in America and many lack the resources and protections they need to heal, recover and make themselves and their families safe,” said Aswad Thomas, gun violence survivor and vice president of Alliance for Safety and Justice. “While the reasons that renters experience a disproportionate share of violence may be complex, there are straightforward protections our elected leaders can enact to improve public safety.”
Renters’ experiences after victimization are fundamentally different from those who live in owner-occupied housing because their housing is dictated by contracts that are difficult to modify in the event of a crisis. Unlike homeowners, renters face the potential for eviction, legal challenges related to terminating the lease if they need to relocate, and a limited ability to quickly address security issues in their homes, such as changing locks.
“Housing security is inextricably intertwined with physical safety,” said John Pollock, Coordinator of the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel. “The seriousness of the consequences and interests at stake show why providing a right to counsel in housing cases is a public safety necessity.”
Another primary reason for renters’ disproportionate vulnerability to violence is that many lack the resources and flexibility they need to make themselves and their families safer. One out of four renting households has less than $200 in cash savings and nearly half (42%) have less than $1,000. Almost three-out-of-four (74%) don’t have enough money to afford a single month’s housing and food expenses if they experienced an interruption in their income or costs, such as hospital bills, therapy, or missing work due to physical or mental trauma.
Renters in households with less than $20,000 in income endured 1.2 million violent victimizations in 2022 and typically have just $174 on hand.
Violent victimization and eviction are strongly correlated. According to ASJ’s analysis, 43% of younger adults who were evicted during the preceding year were also victims of violence during that same period. This is twice the victimization rate of renters who were not evicted.
One victim featured in ASJ’s report, named Michelle, has struggled to secure a safe home for her and children. Their housing situation became unsafe when her abuser kicked down her front door and then brutally attacked and stabbed her. Afterwards, Michelle put up barriers to block the opening into her apartment until the door could be replaced, but she spent six long weeks recovering from her injuries terrified to be living without a front door.
After Michelle’s landlord learned of the incident, he filed eviction proceedings, and Michelle and her family lost their home.
Without the resources to hire an attorney, Michelle was forced to represent herself at her eviction trial. She believes that if she and other violence survivors had the ability to access legal counsel, the outcomes of their eviction proceedings may well be different.
“You shouldn’t have to go in front of an eviction judge by yourself. You don’t know what to say. You’re going into these proceedings by yourself and you don’t know what your rights are,” said Michelle, a Cleveland mother of 6 who survived violence and faced eviction shortly thereafter.
The ASJ report outlines common sense protections to address and improve public safety for renters and communities across the United States, including:
1. Provide civil legal protections to support housing stability and safety
- Provide a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction.
- Expand eviction protections for survivors of violence.
- Provide pathways for survivors of violence and their families to terminate a lease so they can move to a safe location or care for their loved ones.
- Ensure comprehensive “safe leave” protections that allow survivors of violence to take time off work.
2. Provide crisis support and direct assistance
- Implement flexible cash assistance programs for survivors of violence.
- Increase funding to victim service providers to provide rapid rehousing services and legal aid for housing issues.
- Reduce or eliminate documentation requirements so all victims of violence can get help.
3. Ensure homes are safe and habitable
- Ensure speedy structural safety measures, such as new locks and repairs to broken doors and windows.
- Provide emergency help to survivors to cover the costs of biohazard cleanup at crime scenes.
4. End policies and practices that punish victims and make it more difficult to find safe housing
- Develop systems to seal eviction records for victims of violence.
- Prohibit local governments from adopting crime-free housing policies or nuisance laws.
- Prevent housing discrimination on the basis of victimization.
A few protections already exist for victims in some cities and states. But far more must be done to protect all survivor tenants.
“While limited protections already exist for gender-based violence, it is important that we expand access to these protections to reach victims from all walks of life and victimization experiences. Currently, some victims of violence and their families – such as victims of gun violence, armed home invasion, or family members of homicide victims – are not recognized in most of these laws, despite facing similar housing instability issues” said Shakyra Diaz, chief of shared safety for the Alliance for Safety and Justice. “That’s why it’s so essential that states and Congress step in and fill the gap in tenant protections for all survivors.”
ASJ, the largest grassroots victim-led public safety group in the nation, is actively championing legislation in states across the nation and advocating for additional support at the federal level as well. It analyzed data from the National Crime Victims Survey, Survey of Consumer Finances, and the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent to Adult Health to create its “Keys to Safety” report.
ABOUT ALLIANCE FOR SAFETY AND JUSTICE (ASJ)
The Alliance for Safety and Justice (ASJ) is a national organization that aims to win new safety priorities in states across the country. It partners with leaders to advance state reform through networking, coalition building, research, education, and advocacy. It also brings together diverse crime survivors to advance policies that help communities most harmed by crime and violence, as part of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice – its national network of over 200,000 crime survivors.
For more information, visit https://allianceforsafetyandjustice.org.
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