Break the Cycle addresses the post-abuse environment for survivors of domestic violence, confronting housing models that reduce survivors to temporary occupants while reproducing conditions of control, surveillance, and instability. While shelter networks have historically operated as emergency refuge, they rarely support transition from crisis to long-term autonomy or stability. In response, this project proposes a trauma-informed housing continuum defined not as a linear progression, but as a set of conditions negotiating the tension between the need to be safe and the need to be seen. Recovery is contextual, cultural, and deeply personal, unfolding as both healing and empowerment. The continuum operates through discreet access within civic spaces, immediate urban refuge, supportive courtyard environments, and cooperative housing rooted in shared ownership and governance. Situated in Historic Filipinotown, Los Angeles, as a culturally specific testing ground, the project advances a spatial, policy, and stakeholder-informed framework centering agency, continuity, and collective power.
