Safe House

The SAFE HOUSE documentary exhibit captures the sense of "safety" and "home" created by personal objects and spaces for survivors moving from violence in the household, to emergency shelters and safe houses, through transitional housing, and finally settling into an affordable home of their own. This book offers over 50 images, along with inspiring stories about the brave survivors who participated in this project, the history and current resources of the agencies supporting this sector, and an examination of affordable housing policies that support increased funding and incentives for the development and expansion of properties available to this vulnerable demographic in the affluent suburbs of Northern Virginia. This work puts faces and voices to the need that can be too easily obscured and hidden. If survivors can gird up the courage to leave abusive situations, so too can we rally and leverage an equal courage to help provide them a safe place to heal and rebuild their lives.