An advocate for domestic violence victims says violence against women is a principal cause of homelessness among women and children.
Jackie Steyn of the YWCA of Oklahoma City told an Oklahoma House committee Thursday that 70 percent of those who seek services from the Homeless Alliance inOklahomaCity report a history of domestic violence.
Steyn made the comments during a legislative study by the Human Service Committee on poverty and its link to domestic violence in the state.
The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey estimated in 2010 that nearly half of women in Oklahoma had been the victim of rape, violence or stalking by an intimate partner.
The Violence Policy Center ranks Oklahoma third in the nation in the number of women killed by men.
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