Domestic Violence Victims: Out Of The Frying Pan And Into A Bureaucratic Housing Fire

photo of domestic Violence Training in Cape Town, South Africa
060 photo by Cape Town Sojourners 2010 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Domestic Violence Training in Cape Town, SA. Common to all countries, safety often means relocation.

The Guardian has recently explored how domestic violence victims in the UK are assisted in escaping their misery. A somewhat surprising conclusion is that many of them are further victimized by the support system that is meant to both protect them from violence and to find them housing alternatives.

Why does this matter everywhere?  Conditions that allow victims of violence to be further victimized may be endemic to any public/social housing system that is overburdened and underfunded in any country. This describes the current state of public/social housing in many wealthy nations, including both Canada and the United States.

How does this “double jeopardy” happen? Read more in The Guardian: Thousands Fleeing Domestic Violence Face Squalid Housing

In retrospect: Over the past several decades, Public/Social Housing in several wealthy western democracies has been declared a failure due to the social failings of its inhabitants. This is particularly true of the United States, where the deterioration of public housing stock has been blamed on the behaviour of the tenants, both individually and collectively.

The double victimization of those seeking to escape violence is an example of how individual bureaucrats are themselves overburdened by underfunding of their housing systems. It can be very convenient ignore the plight of those social/public housing tenants least capable of fending for themselves.

Over time, this can become a “blame the victims” mindset. And yet, true responsibility for this neglect of human lives, both adult and children, must inevitably rest with the mistakes and failures of political will at a national level.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.