Women living in public housing have a difficult enough time keeping men out of their homes who’ve threatened to abuse them sexually. A 2002 study from the sociologist and researcher Walter DeKeserdy found that “Women in public housing experience more intimate partner violence, including sexual violence, than the general population.”
And yet, there are certain men that women in public housing can’t make persona non grata, even when those men display sexually threatening behavior, because the men work for the housing authority responsible for helping provide the women shelter. Allegations and evidence of sexual attacks by housing officials have surfaced in various cities in recent years.
One disturbing, major case of this is playing out right now in Baltimore, where 20 women living in public housing complexes have joined a federal lawsuit against the city’s housing authority over accusations that maintenance workers have been demanding sexual favors in exchange for repair work. Attorneys on the case say there are potentially hundreds more women who’ve been subjected to this as well. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is investigating the allegations, as is thestate’s attorney’s office.
[For more of this story, written by Brentin Mock, go to http://www.citylab.com/housing...blic-housing/415908/]
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