The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) announced on June 20 that it will join NLIHC’s Opportunity Starts at Home (OSAH) multi-sector affordable housing campaign Steering Committee. As a Steering Committee member, NNEDV will engage its network of advocates to advance more robust and equitable federal housing policies for people with the lowest incomes.
“Many domestic violence survivors are forced to flee their homes to escape dangerous and life-threatening violence and are evicted at much higher rates from affordable housing,” said Dr. Wendy B. Mahoney, NNEDV interim president and CEO. “Survivors face higher rates of eviction and housing discrimination due to their survivor status, being blamed for actions of the harm-doer, and historical racial and family size discrimination in housing. A well-documented lack of safe, affordable housing options leaves many survivors, and particularly survivors of color, without a choice but to survive outside or live in unstable and violent housing situations.”
NNEDV is the latest addition to the OSAH campaign’s Steering Committee, which now totals 20 members. Chaired by NLIHC, the Steering Committee also includes the National Alliance to End Homelessness, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Catholic Charities USA, Children’s HealthWatch, Catholic Charities USA, Children’s Defense Fund, Community Catalyst, Food Research and Action Center, JustLeadershipUSA, NAACP, National Alliance on Mental Illness, National Association of Community Health Centers, National Association of Social Workers, National Education Association, National League of Cities, National LGBTQ Task Force, National Women’s Law Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, and UnidosUS.
NNEDV provides training and assistance to coalitions against domestic violence in all 56 states and territories. Formed in 1990, NNEDV works to make domestic violence a national priority; change the way society responds to domestic violence; and strengthen domestic violence advocacy at every level.
Read the news release here.