“I would call myself a survivor…and the Lotus House changed me completely, made me a totally different person. This program, it does work, it does help. And the things that they do here as far as helping with trauma, that’s amazing. It opened me up to know that I am the person that God said that I should be, today. ‘Cause back then I was so hurt and traumatized. But today I am the person that I should be, that I always know that I could be, and that I can do anything that’s possible. So this program… it does work.”
“Lotus House taught me patience.”
“I was taken care of, it was a great experience. I had a lot of support, and Lotus House is my family. They’ve become my family, Junior’s family, at a time when I had no one. When I couldn’t pick up a phone and reach out to anyone, Lotus House, the counselors, everyone here, the staff, was my family.”
“Health Care for Homeless Women.” ACOG. Accessed June 1, 2021. https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2013/10/health-care-for-homeless-women#:~:text=three%20years%E2%80%9D%201.-,Statistics%20and%20Demographics,are%20headed%20by%20women%203. (citing The National Center on Family Homelessness. The characteristics and needs of families experiencing homelessness . Newton Centre (MA): NCFH; 2008. Available at:http://www.familyhomelessness.org/media/147.pdf. Retrieved May 29, 2013)
The combined number of reported women who enter shelters, both homeless (219,911) in addition to domestic violence shelters (909,396) equals 1,129,307. See State of Homelessness: 2020 Edition. (2020, May 20). Retrieved February 08, 2021, from https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness-2020/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA34OBBhCcARIsAG32uvPB9gF-94zMirySWNbwIq4rB6DsJzGF4ZO67alWvDpZDQShoLC8WUIaArnfE ALw_wcB (stating that 3,255 made up the transgender population and 1,362 made up the gender non-conforming population); see also Number of people using domestic violence shelters by state. (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2021, from https://www.domesticshelters.org/data-center/state-reports-and-rankings/people-using-domestic-violence-shelters-by -state.
“Homelessness and Racial Disparities.” National Alliance to End Homelessness, April 1, 2021. https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/what-causes-homelessness/inequality/. (stating that “the most striking disparity can be found among African Americans, who represent 13 percent of the general population but account for 39 percent of people experiencing homelessness and more than 50 percent of homeless families with children.”); see also Moses, Joy. “Demographic Data Project: Race, Ethnicity, and Homelessness.” National Alliance to End Homelessness. Homelessness Research Institute, 2018. https://endhomelessness.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/3rd-Demo-Brief-Race.pdf. (demonstrating that “54 Black people per 10,000 are homeless and 20 Hispanic/Latinx people per 10,000 are homeless compared to 11 homeless White people per 10,000”).
US Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Child Homelessness: A Growing Crisis. SAMHSA: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. https://www.samhsa.gov/homelessness-programs-resources/hpr-resources/child-homelessness-growing-crisis.; See also National Center on Family Homelessness. American Institutes for Research. (2018, September 27) https://www.air.org/center/national-center-family-homelessness.
Child homelessness: A growing crisis. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2021, from https://www.samhsa.gov/homelessness-programs-resources/hpr-resources/child-homelessness-growing-crisis. Lotus House alone saw a 17.5% increase in the number of sheltered women and children in 2020 due to the pandemic. Overcoming their fear of entering a shelter during the pandemic, Lotus House recorded a 37.6% increase in the percentage of sheltered women with domestic violence in 2020 compared with 2019. 494 women or 82% of the total number of women who were victims of crime in 2020, compared to a composite total of 556 or 70% from 2018-2019 (already an extraordinarily high number), experienced domestic violence. We note in particular, 35 or 6% of our sheltered women in 2020 were victims of human trafficking contrasted with 16 or 3% in 2019, resulting in an increase of 118% in human trafficking victims served over the prior year. These numbers highlight how the pandemic has contributed to an increase in both homelessness and domestic violence, a lead cause of homelessness.
Health Care for Homeless Women.” The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Women’s Health Care Physicians. Accessed March 9, 2021. https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2013/10/health-care-for-homeless-wome n#. (stating that “[w]omen and families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population, with 34% of the total homeless population composed of families. Of these homeless families, 84% are headed by women.”) see also The National Center on Family Homelessness. The characteristics and needs of families experiencing homelessness. Newton Centre (MA): NCFH; 2008. https://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/facts/Whois.pdf.
“Increases in Individual Homelessness: A Gender Analysis.” National Alliance to End Homelessness, June 4, 2020. https://endhomelessness.org/increases-in-individual-homelessness-a-gender-analysis/.
An estimated 25.5 million women (21.3%) in the U.S. have reported completed or attempted rape at some point in their lifetime.“NISVS 2010 Summary Report – Sexual Violence by Any Perpetrator.” National Sexual Violence Resource Center. Accessed March 15, 2021. https://www.nsvrc.org/statistics#:~:text=The%20self%2Dreported%20incidence%20of,the%20United%20States%20in%202018. National studies show: 1 in 3 female murder victims and 1 in 20 male murder victims are killed by intimate partners; 72% of all murder-suicides are perpetrated by intimate partners and 94% of all murder-suicide victims are female. National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, www.ncadv.org/statistics. One in five or 16.3% of murder victims in the United States were killed by an intimate partner; women account for two out of three of those murder victims. www.domesticshelters.org/resources/statistics/homicide-and-injury-from-domestic-violence.
Child homelessness: A growing crisis. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2021, from https://www.samhsa.gov/homelessness-programs-resources/hpr-resources/child-homelessness-growing-crisis.
