Lawyers Manual - Unified Court System

In addition to the physical and emotional harm caused by domestic violence,
survivors often face serious financial consequences. Many survivors are
dependent upon an abuser for basic financial support to pay for rent, food and
clothing. Often, abusers control their partners by preventing them from working
or by interfering with employment or child care arrangements until survivors are
fired or forced to quit their jobs. Some survivors are faced with the frightening
possibility of homelessness if they separate from their abuser or the loss of
existing housing as a result of the domestic violence. Without the most basic
resources necessary to provide for themselves and their children, many
survivors remain trapped.
The first critical steps toward economic self-sufficiency may come in the
form of public assistance and public housing. 1 Although an invaluable resource
for many survivors, the public assistance, or “welfare,” system has many serious
challenges. The system seeks to track and control its applicants and recipients,
and grants barely meet a client’s most basic needs. The shelter and subsidized
housing system also can be confusing and difficult to navigate. Because of the
dynamics of domestic violence, many battered clients face additional challenges
to securing documentation necessary to prove eligibility. Confidentiality
concerns create other obstacles.
Public Assistance
Public Assistance Basics
17
Public Assistance and Housing:
Helping Survivors Navigate Difficult Systems
by Amy E. Schwartz and Sharon Stapel
Welfare reform, beginning in the mid-1990s, has made it more difficult for
survivors to apply for, or remain on, public assistance, now termed temporary