The safety and peace of mind afforded with stable housing is out of reach for many Americans, particularly low-income renter households. Almost half of all renters in the United States are considered housing cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of their incomes on housing. Housing insecurity refers to various housing challenges that range in severity from having trouble paying rent, moving frequently, or doubling-up to more severe hardships like eviction or homelessness. Women, particularly women of color, head the majority of housing-insecure households in the U.S. However, the role intersectional gender inequity plays in women’s ability to secure and maintain safe and affordable housing is understudied and undertheorized. In this three-paper dissertation, I apply quantitative and qualitative methods to assess the role of a hostile social environment in women’s housing experiences, accounting for the intersecting impact of gendered and racialized violence at the state level, community level, and within the intimate household. First, drawing on an extensive review of sociological literature on gender, race, and housing, I propose a socio-ecological framework to study the feminization of housing insecurity in America’s racial caste system. Second, I draw on longitudinal data on a population of at-risk urban-dwelling mothers in the U.S. (n= 4,482) to investigate the potential individual-level pathways between IPV and housing insecurity and account for the way in which socio-political barriers in the community might condition the relationship. Finally, I use qualitative in-depth interview data with housing insecure women in Connecticut (n=16) to explore how violence confines women to inadequate housing in racially segregated neighborhoods. The results of these analyses demonstrate how marginalized urban-dwelling women are subjected to hostile social environments that deepen their vulnerabilities to housing insecurity. Specifically, violence from the state, community, and intimate partners intertwine to lock women in a hostile social environment in which their personal freedom is revoked and they are subject to abuse and deprivation. The dissertation concludes with implications for future research and public policy interventions to advance gender and racial equity in housing.