This article explores the impact of self-owned versus rented housing on violence against women in Ciudad Bolívar, Bogota. We used a mixed methods approach based on semi-structured interviews in the locality as well as on observation of domestic violence cases in the locality, between 2011 and 2012. We also analyzed the statistical data of the National Health and Demography Survey for 2010, with representative data for the locality. We concluded that self-owned housing has a protective impact because it reduces economic stress, increases women’s status and facilitates solutions to domestic conflict. Furthermore, according to the statistical data, this protective effect is associated, at both the national and local level, to a significantly lower level of violence, regardless of wealth.