Baton Rouge, LA (6/5/2023) – The Louisiana Senate leadership included an additional $7 million for domestic violence shelters and victims services in its state budget proposal — a boon for those organizations that have typically received little state financial support.
Advocates for domestic violence victims have complained for years that Louisiana provides minimal state dollars for their shelters and services, especially when compared to other states. The Louisiana Legislature’s own auditor also recommended lawmakers give more “consistent and flexible funding” for domestic violence prevention in a 2021 report.
“Even Mississippi provides $12 million in state general funds for domestic violence services,” said Mariah Wineski, executive director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, at a legislative budget hearing last month. “So we really are an outlier.”
Wineski and other victim advocates had asked the Senate Finance Committee to add $15 million in general funds — the most flexible source of state funding — for domestic violence services, but even $7 million would be a significant boost, given that domestic violence prevention has traditionally received no state general funding at all.
The money is contingent on the House agreeing to keep the Senate’s allocation in the final budget plan, which should be set by Thursday evening. Legislators are continuing to negotiate over the spending proposal, though no one has brought up concerns about giving more money to anti-domestic violence efforts.
Ninety percent of the public money for Louisiana domestic violence shelters typically comes from federal sources, and totaled $7 million this year. The other 10% is derived from state marriage license fees and Louisiana’s justice reinvestment program, where the money is tied to savings achieved when the state prison population decreases. Shelters also do private fundraising, advocates said.
But the justice reinvestment program may soon come to a close, depending who is elected the next governor, and Wineski said federal funding for domestic violence prevention has dropped significantly in recent years as well.
Louisiana’s 17 shelters for domestic violence survivors are already struggling to keep up with demand for their services. From approximately 2015 to 2020, the state had an average of 2,600 requests for shelter from domestic violence that could not be filled, according to the 2021 legislative auditor’s report.
Kim Kirby said her own organization, Safe Harbor in Mandeville, had more than 300 requests for shelter in St. Tammany and Washington parishes that it couldn’t meet last year.
“We need more shelter beds and affordable housing options for people to transition out of the shelter,” Kirby told senators at a budget hearing last month.
Advocates had said they intended to use any extra money they received to open new shelters, retain staff and expand prevention services. Two areas of the state that need more support are central Louisiana and the Livingston Parish area.
There are no shelters along the Interstate 12 corridor from Baton Rouge to Mandeville, Wineski said. The only shelter in Alexandria also closed years ago.
Source: Louisiana Illuminator, Author: Julie O’Donoghue
