| Releases & Statements
Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum today
released a report that highlights the City’s failure to
meet the shelter and housing needs of women and their children
seeking to escape domestic violence. The report is critical of
a new homeless housing policy that compounds the problems women
already face due to a shortage of domestic violence shelters.
According to the report, the City
typically fails to provide emergency shelter to a third of all
domestic violence survivors and their children, and a new housing
policy could disqualify an additional 20 percent from the City’s
new rent subsidy. “The combination of the shelter shortage
and new policy means that the City cannot or will not help more
than half of all domestic violence survivors and their children.
It’s outrageous and it’s wrong,” said Gotbaum.
Domestic violence has become a leading
cause of homelessness nationwide. In 2004, 12,300 women who qualified
for emergency shelter called the City’s Domestic Violence
Hotline. The following are problems for women seeking shelter
identified by the Public Advocate’s Office:
Shelter and Housing
Shortage:
Because of a severe shortage of Human-Resources-Administration-run
shelters specializing in serving domestic violence survivors —
there are only 37 emergency shelters with 1,900 beds — many
women call the domestic violence hotline repeatedly before being
placed, resulting in 37,000 calls last year. In 2004, a third,
or 4,100 women, was unable to secure emergency shelter.
State regulation limits stays in emergency shelters to 90 days,
with the possibility of a 45-day extension. This gives women a
very short timeframe in which to secure permanent housing. HRA
does operate transitional domestic violence shelters, but with
only 206 available units, this is an option for an extremely limited
number of women and their children.
In the first five months of 2004, only 17% of survivors leaving
emergency shelter obtained permanent housing.
In addition, the Public Advocate’s
office identified emerging housing problems that are a result
of the city’s new housing policy, Housing Stability Plus
(HSP). The City has taken away survivors’ priority status
for Section 8 vouchers and made it more difficult for them to
access NYCHA apartments.
Problems include:
HSP vouches are worth less than the
old vouchers and they decrease in value by 20 percent each year,
making them even less valuable and more risky for landlords.
HSP only provides a housing subsidy for women on welfare, which
could discourage employment. However, the subsidy decreases by
20 percent annually and ends completely after 5 years, meaning
that women have to increase their income to make up the difference
but still remain within the welfare eligibility limits or they
will lose their entire subsidy. This catch-22 could proliferate
a cycle of homelessness.
Women who aren’t able to access
domestic violence emergency shelters or housing through the HSP
program can turn to Department of Homeless Services shelters and
seek NYCHA housing, but both options have numerous problems.
"It's a terrible situation. The
housing and shelter shortage leads many women to stay with abusers
in situations that are dangerous to themselves and their kids.
Those who enter the domestic violence shelter system often return
to the abusers when they realize there is nowhere for their children
to go. They are willing to endure the abuse if the only other
option is subjecting their children to the EAU and a DHS homeless
shelter,” said Elizabeth Saylor, Staff Attorney for the
Domestic Violence Project at the Legal Aid Society.
Indhira, a domestic violence survivor
said: “The main feeling I have towards HSP is frustration.
I took this program because I had no other choice. I feel as though
I’ll end up in shelter sooner or later because eventually
I won’t be able to pay the rent.”
Mary, another domestic violence survivor
said: “After twenty years of abuse I finally entered shelter.
I was able to obtain a Section 8 voucher and reach safety permanently.
With HSP, women will not have the same chance I had, but will
be forced to once again become dependent and suffer further abuse
from the batterers they fled."
Gotbaum’s recommendations include
the following:
Open up the HSP program to survivors
not receiving public assistance and remove the arbitrary 5-year
time limit and voucher’s 20% annual reduction.
Restore housing priority for survivors.
Increase the number of emergency shelter beds and the length of
time survivors can stay at emergency shelters.
Increase the number of domestic violence transitional shelters.
Increase the supply of permanent affordable housing for survivors,
including selling an allotment with the Mayor’s New Housing
Marketplace plan.
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