HHS Funding of Women’s Shelters* Plus Other Funding Related to Violence Against Women, FY 1995-2024

Graph of the Week

This week’s graphs show United States (U.S.) government funding related to violence against women. The first graph shows funding of women’s shelters and family violence and prevention services by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for financial years (FY) 1995-2024. The pink bars display the budget for each FY. The pink bars are associated with the left y-axis and are measured in millions of dollars. The orange bar on the right of the graph represents the total budget from FY 1995-2024. The orange bar is associated with the right y-axis and is measured in billions of dollars.

The second graph combines the data from HHS with data on funding associated with violence against women from the Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The data from the OVW and NIH have been published previously at The Nuzzo Letter. The purpose of combining these data is to illustrate the total amount of money that the U.S. government invests in the area of violence against women.

HHS Funding of Women’s Shelters¹

• For many years, HHS funding for women’s shelters and violence against women was approximately $125-$130 million per year.

• Funding was increased to $150-$164 million between 2016 and 2019.

• Funding was increased substantially to $219 million in 2020, $378 million in 2021, and $449 million in 2022.

• Current levels of funding are now approximately $244 million per year.

• The total amount of funding from HHS for women’s shelters and related services from 1995 to 2024 was $4.3 billion.

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HHS, OVW, and NIH

• HHS is not the only government agency that funds the area of violence against women. Previously, The Nuzzo Letter reported funding from the OVW and NIH. The graph below shows funding combined across these three groups.

• The greatest amount of funding comes from the OVW, followed by HHS and then the NIH, whose focus is on health research related to violence.

• Total funding increased steadily throughout much of the past 30 years, but marked increases in funding occurred between 2020 and 2024.

• Peak levels of funding related to violence against women were reached in 2024 at $1.3 billion.

• Across the three agencies, funding for women’s shelters and violence against women research, services, and programs between 1995 and 2024 totalled $17 billion.

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Bonus Commentary

The U.S. government has invested significantly more money into research on violence against women than violence against men. To the extent that government funding of a research area improves outcomes in that area, this disproportionate funding is problematic for the following reasons:

• Males are more likely than females to be victims of homicide;

• Roughly equal proportions of males and females are victims of intimate partner violence;

• Males comprise about 1 out of every 3-4 victims of intimate partner homicide;

• Violence against men is one reason why male life expectancy in the U.S. is significantly shorter than female life expectancy.

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Sources

Data from HHS and OVW were extracted from annual federal budgets of the U.S. government. Data from NIH were acquired from the NIH Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) system.

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Related Content at The Nuzzo Letter

Budget of U.S. Office on Violence Against Women

NIH Funding of Violence Against Men and Women Research

Intimate Partner Homicide Victims in the U.S., 1976-2019

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1. The language used in federal budgets has changed over time in relation to HHS funding for women’s shelters and violence against women. In the earliest budgets, this funding was called “grants for battered women’s shelters.” In later federal budgets, the terms “family violence” and “domestic violence hotline” were listed, and then eventually all were combined as “family violence and prevention services.” The current HHS website states that these family violence and preventions services are now available for men. The available information did not allow for distinguishing between funds in more recent years that have been allocated for male victims compared to female victims.