Black women are at an increased risk for intimate partner violence (IPV). The complex interrelationships among housing instability, risk, and severity of abuse among IPV survivors has been established in the research literature, particularly for Black women who are often standing at the intersection of poverty, race, and gender, which results in having fewer financial resources and options for affordable housing. A promising innovation that is gaining national popularity is the Domestic Violence Housing First (DVHF) model, which involves providing survivor-driven mobile advocacy and flexible funding to meet the immediate housing needs of survivors. While preliminary evidence suggests the beneficial impacts of DVHF on improving survivors’ safety, housing stability, and well-being, there is little research that rigorously evaluates the impact of DVHF on the outcomes of Black survivors. To address this gap, the current study examined the long-term impact of the DVHF model on the safety, housing stability, and depressive symptoms of 61 homeless or unstably housed Black survivors who had recently sought DV services from one of five agencies located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Results indicate that those who received the DVHF model experienced less revictimization compared to those who received services as usual. These findings are promising and have useful implications for Black survivors, DV agencies, policy makers instituting relevant laws, and grant-making institutions funding survivor-related programs/services.
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