(New York) - The Oregon legislature should preserve desperately needed funds for emergency shelter and other services for women and children fleeing domestic violence, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Oregon state legislators as they finalize budget negotiations.
Women entering emergency shelters often have no other options for safe housing. Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch interviewed battered women who, once turned away from shelter, reported staying in abusive situations or being homeless. "It's like playing the lottery," said one woman who spent five months trying to get into shelter while living in her car with two children.
"It is really tragic, and unacceptable, that shelters have to turn away more and more families who are going through severe crisis and have nowhere else to turn," said Meghan Rhoad, researcher in the Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. "Protecting these people from violence is a government responsibility, even in the worst of times."
The economic crisis has only widened the gap between existing funds and what is needed, Human Rights Watch said. A 2006 state-commissioned study found state and federal funds coordinated by the state would need to total over $16 million per year to provide meaningful access to services for survivors throughout Oregon. Total funding for the current fiscal year stands at $7.5 million. State funds, which are projected to constitute over half of total funding for the 2009-2011 biennium, have been threatened with cuts in the pending budget negotiations.
According to the Oregon Department of Human Services, 19,996 requests for shelter from domestic and sexual violence went unmet in 2008, a 36-percent increase over 2007.
Service providers say women spend more time in emergency shelter and have greater needs for other services since the economic downturn due to heightened barriers to economic independence and permanent housing. Oregon has the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation, and rental markets in some areas have tightened due to foreclosures.
Availability of shelter and other services can mean the difference between life and death. According to a study by the Intimate Partner Violence Data Collection project, in 46 percent of female homicides between 1997 and 2003, the woman was killed by an intimate partner. A 2008 national government survey showed a 42 percent increase in reported cases of domestic violence between 2005 and 2007, a result largely due to changes in methodology, but indicating the problem is much more serious than previously estimated (https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/18/us-soaring-rates-rape-and-violence-against-women ).
Extended stays in shelter can make it difficult for some shelters, particularly those Human Rights Watch visited in the Portland area, to take in new cases.
At Yolanda House in Portland, for example, 305 calls came in requesting shelter in a one-month period in 2009, but the shelter was only able to take in three women and one child.
In particular, providers expressed concern about meeting the needs of diverse, often marginalized communities, including immigrant women, sexual and gender minorities, and people with disabilities.
The widening service gap is also due to providers receiving fewer funds from individual charitable giving, corporate sponsorships, and foundation funds.
"In a time of growing need, service providers are trying to do more with less," said Rhoad, "but when you lose funds from programs that are already drastically underfunded, it's bound to take a toll on women's safety."
