No one chooses to live a life without the comfort of their own home.
That so many are left with no other option says so much about the state of a society where the most vulnerable slip through the ever-widening cracks.
It’s all too easy to assume those who find themselves homeless do so because of substance and alcohol abuse.
But around 10% of those forced into emergency shelter, that’s almost 2,000 people, are the victims of domestic abuse.
That they believe their only escape is to run away, fend for themselves as homeless, calls the current support mechanism for domestic abuse victims into question.
Without the necessary interventions, that number is only going to rise. These are people in fear for their lives who are being failed by a society which should be doing all it can to protect them.
In recent years, there have been high-profile court cases where someone was convicted of killing their partner. And there are so many more caught in toxic relationships who suffer in silence, unable to get the help they need, the protection they should have from government agencies, the safe place to escape to. They choose, instead, to stay where they are, live in fear and are unwilling to seek help which they believe may only increase the likelihood of abuse in the home as the trust is not there that they will be safe.
Forcing victims out of their homes as a last resort is yet another symptom of the shocking level of domestic abuse that remains rife in Northern Ireland.
Unless they give their reason for being homeless, they receive scant recognition from what is a flawed system of measuring who deserves a home and who doesn’t. Living with the enemy would seem more dangerous than an enemy somewhere else in the community.
Intimidation is intimidation, no matter where it comes from. Surely intimidation coming from someone you share a home with should merit particular attention?
One more reason why a concerted effort to tackle the rise in domestic abuse needs to happen sooner rather than later.
That can start by giving victims the protection and security they need to come forward, safe in the knowledge those responsible will be the ones removed from the home to face the criminal punishment they should.
There should be no reason why someone suffering domestic abuse believes their only escape is to leave home. There remains little trust in the justice system, and little trust in the housing system. The only trust victims have is in themselves. That needs to change.