PHOENIX — There is a heartbreaking reality within the homeless crisis in Phoenix: many unhoused women report being victims of family violence.
This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, one Valley woman says she has survived both.
Leticia River and her two children live in a cozy apartment.
“It’s comfortable!” she said.
They also have a new puppy.
“He’s so friendly,” Rivera said.
Yet just two years ago, the family was stuck in a domestic violence situation.
“It destroys a family, down to the parents, to the kids,” Rivera said. “That was my main reason to get away because I didn't want the cycle repeating.”
When Rivera left her partner in 2022, housing was up in the air.
“I didn't want him to know where we were,” Rivera said. “I was staying at a friend’s for a while, friends and co-workers.”
She is not alone: 40% of homeless women in Phoenix cite domestic violence as a contributing factor, according to the Maricopa Association of Governments.
“When folks have to flee their home for safety, that creates homelessness,” Jenna Panas, ACESDV CEO said.
The state has the attention of the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence. Now, they are concerned about a Supreme Court ruling this summer in the City of Grants Pass V. Johnson case.
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The ruling lets cities arrest and fine unhoused people for sleeping in public. Panas fears that criminalizes homelessness and harms domestic violence survivors.
“That would then mean that victims of domestic violence with nowhere else to go would then be subject to harassment enforced by the police, which is a re-victimization,” Panas said.
For Rivera, things turned around after she connected with Save The Family Foundation of Arizona.
The nonprofit houses participants for free, but they pay $500 a month to get support services. Once they finish the year-long program, they get all of that money back.
“Those supportive services help them obtain a higher-level job. They help them with budgeting and finance items, with youth, children, and parenting education programs,” Robyn Julien, Save The Family CEO, said. “Eighty percent of our families, upon successfully completing our programs, they obtain affordable housing. Permanent housing.”
In December, Rivera is set to graduate from the program and head down a new path.
“I'm actually exiting out of Save The Family into permanent housing,” she said. “Nice little Christmas gift!”
It is a path she hopes will inspire her children.
“When kids see the parent keep going and pushing, it benefits them a lot,” Rivera said. “So I think they're good. They're happy.”
If you or anyone you know is experiencing family violence you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 (SAFE) or you can call 211 to be connected to local services.
