Shelter and rapid rehousing providers told Delaware’s Domestic Violence Coordinating Council this week the state’s housing shortage is especially dire for domestic violence survivors.
Child Inc. housing liaison Julia Turk recount as cas where a recent client whose abusive partner placed utilities bills in her name, ruining her credit and making it almost impossible to find housing when she decided to flee the abuse.
And People's Place Program Director Blanche Creech says half of those arriving at their Dover homeless shelter are fleeing domestic violence, which often involves financial abuse.
Creech notes for people whose credit and savings are ruined by abusive partners – or were previously evicted because of an abusive partner's actions – finding a place after leaving a shelter is difficult. Even those with rental assistance vouchers are often unable to find a landlord willing to accept them.
“One of the most disheartening things for advocates and providers is working with someone who is often in financial ruin and she has no choice to return to her abuser because we can’t help her with housing,” she said.
Dedicated domestic violence shelters and rapid rehousing programs are scarce in Delaware. In Kent and Sussex County, People’s Place housed more than 650 people in domestic violence shelters and motels last year, though could not find space for everyone who requested it. Child Inc. has housed between twenty and forty victims per month in its New Castle County shelters and in motel rooms.
Child Inc. Director Lori Sitler says her organization continues renting motel rooms – a crucial stand-in for full-time shelters - through a series of grants rather than relying on the state's pandemic emergency shelter program, which ended last September after exhausting its federal funding.
Child Inc. is also drawing more landlord participation in its rapid rehousing program by increasing the length of client stays. But People’s Place reports a decline in the number of landlords willing to accept rental vouchers, slowing efforts to find long-term housing for survivors left homeless after fleeing abuse.
Though the Coordinating Council has only limited powers to intervene, Creech suggested that the council’s members – including cabinet secretaries and lawmakers – could consolidate applications for the state’s public housing authorities to ease the search process for survivors, including the growing number of survivors with limited English language skills.
Five people were killed by partners or other family members in Delaware last year.
