Times Union: Domestic Violence Protections Must Include Single Adults

On this International Women’s Day, Denise Carter-Pruden, program director at one of VOA-GNY’s emergency domestic violence shelters, reminds us that New York can do even more for nearly 8 out of 10 women who experience domestic and intimate partner violence in the state.

In an op-ed published in Times Union, she writes about the challenges shelters face in housing single adult survivors without children. At the shelter she manages, only 12 out of the 120 beds are designated for single adults — the demand far exceeding the supply. Denise explains her hands are tied with limited number of beds and with a state funding formuala that penalizes providers for using family-sized rooms for single adults.

The result disporportiantely affects survivors who are LGBTQ+, older adults, or victims of sex trafficking — those whom most likely seek shelter without children.

“Survivors who are turned away from domestic violence shelters due to a lack of single beds may be forced into homelessness or return to their abusers while they wait for vacancies to materialize,” writes Denise. “Many who have faced repetitive denials give up on the system altogether.”

A solution to the issue is passing the SAFE Shelter Act, she urges. The legislation would fix the funding discrepency and be more equitable to surviors without children.

Read the full article at Times Union.