At Calvary Women’s Services in Anacostia, Courtney has been trying to catch up on what the rest of the world has been doing in the last few years. She has battled addiction and housing instability. She left an abusive relationship. Now, she reads, writes, watches Netflix — she just finished “Bloodlines” — and has dreams of starting a career as a tattoo artist and shop owner.
Courtney has been homeless in Kentucky, Ohio, and the District. While she was living in Kentucky in 2016, the man she had been staying with became violent with her. Soon after, her cousin bought her a bus ticket and she returned to D.C., where she was born, with no plan for what to do when she arrived.
Her struggles with domestic violence and homelessness are not uncommon. According to a report by the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness, 42 percent of homeless women in D.C. have been victims of domestic violence, and nearly one-third of women surveyed indicated that the violence they faced was a direct cause of their housing instability and homelessness. Sixty-three percent of the women who reported histories of violence and trauma said they also experienced at least one act of violence against them during their current period of homelessness.
[For more on this story by OLIVIA RICHTER, go to https://www.streetsensemedia.o...swomen/#.WrMkB2inHrc]
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