Domestic Violence Shelters Fight for Funding

A bill reinstating funding to domestic violence shelters failed in the state Senate Sept. 11, forcing shelters to continue scaling back services or close.

But shelter workers in San Francisco struggle to maintain the same level of service despite cutbacks and layoffs.

The bill, authored by Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, would have loaned $16.3 million to California shelters after they lost all of their state funding as a result of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $20.4 million budget cut on July 27.

Although it passed 63-1 in the state Assembly, the bill did not garner enough votes in the Senate to constitute a two-thirds majority. "Petty Sacramento politics" led to the bill's demise, Yee said in a press release.

"It just shows where the priorities are in this country," said Hilda Gomez, volunteer coordinator at the Riley Center's Community Office.

The Riley Center, a program of the Vincent de Paul Society of San Francisco, helps more than 1,000 women a year get settled into shelters and find referrals for housing or legal advice. Its community office is housed in the Women's Building in the Mission, making it easier to serve women because legal advice or services to obtain restraining orders are simply a few offices away.

Since the budget cuts, six of California's 94 shelters have closed. Others have been forced to cut staff and services or to implement furlough days. Bay Area shelters are keeping their heads above water, but not without difficulty.

The Riley Center, which is composed of one office space for walk-ins and two shelters, has been forced to cut three staff members already. One staff member was cut from each program -- one from the Brennan House, one from the Rosalie House and one from the Community Office.

"The staff that is staying is doing the same amount of work in the same amount of time, but with less people," Gomez said.

The severity of the cut was unexpected. Representatives for domestic violence shelters originally negotiated that only 20 percent of funds would be eliminated, according to Gomez.

Negotiations "had gotten it down to 20 percent and then the day of, Schwarzenegger crossed it off and cut it 100 percent," Gomez said.

The news shocked the domestic violence shelter community.

"To have it be completely eliminated was stunning," said Walesa Kanarek of La Casa de las Madres, the first domestic violence shelter to open in California.

"Talking about this always makes me sad."

Shelter workers believe that cutting preventive services will ultimately cost the state more, according to Kanarek. Police officers could see a spike in domestic violence calls while hospitals will probably see more abuse victims coming through their doors.

"Police respond to 500 calls a month. That's our officers going into potentially dangerous situations, that's officer time and overtime," Kanarek said. "You have [victims] going into hospitals. Those resources are really important to care for people properly and in the long run we would save money."

Despite the cuts, local organizations are determined not to change their services, which include counseling, legal referrals, 24-hour hotlines and support during trials as well as providing shelter for women and children.

"The community will do this work," Kanarek said. "On one hand we need funds to keep our doors open, but we're not going to cut our services or cut hours."

The current economic climate has done more than strain shelters financially. Since the economic crisis began, shelters have seen an increase in domestic violence.

"This year alone we've experienced over 20 percent increase in crisis calls, in over 20 languages," said Vanessa Flores, an advocate for the Asian Women's Shelter.

"We do a lot of community work, but we also think there's correlation between the economy and domestic violence."

Although the bill was shelved, the community is still prepared to push for their funding and Yee has promised to reintroduce the bill, or a different version of it, again and again until some funding is reinstated.

"The women are so inspiring and we see how hard they're fighting with what they're going through," Flores said. "We have no excuse not to do our day to day work while also fighting for our funding."