Commentary: Law change will help LGBTQ New Yorkers find shelter from domestic violence

Signing the Securing Access to Fair & Equal (SAFE) Shelter Act into law will help more at-risk people find a safe haven.

By Liz Roberts and Audacia Ray - Published by Times Union - 11/19/24

It's incumbent upon us to try to build a society that allows survivors to heal, thrive and succeed, especially survivors from the communities that are marginalized. But New York's domestic violence shelter system was designed to administer services and temporary housing to cisgender women - those whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth - and their children. Shelters typically accommodate a parent and one or more children, rather than individual adults.

This means that LGBTQ+ survivors who need shelter often can't access it. That's why we are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign the Securing Access to Fair & Equal (SAFE) Shelter Act and resolve a longstanding issue preventing survivors without children from accessing life-saving shelter from domestic violence.

The legislation would provide the funding flexibility that shelter providers desperately need to house significantly more single adult survivors of trafficking and domestic and gender-based violence. That flexibility would ensure that all survivors, regardless of age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or family status, have equal access to life-saving shelter and support.

Currently, the state reimburses domestic violence shelters on a per person, per night basis, a "heads in beds" reimbursement system. This means that a shelter that places a single survivor without children in a unit with two or more beds will lose a significant amount of revenue - the very revenue it needs to operate that shelter and sustain programming. This reimbursement system ultimately hurts the survivors it is meant to help. According to data from New York City's 24-hour Domestic Violence Hotline, in 2023 50% of calls were from single survivors without children in need of shelter. Of those, only 18% were connected to shelter.

And the problem is only worsening. Many survivors without children are remaining in or returning to unsafe situations. Survivors are being pushed into the homeless shelter system, which is not built to meet their needs or provide the trauma-informed care they require. Homeless shelters can feel especially unsafe and unwelcoming for queer and trans New Yorkers. Many survivors instead choose to live on the street or remain in dangerous and abusive environments, often with the people who have caused them harm.

The SAFE Shelter Act would fix this systemic problem by allowing domestic violence shelters to receive a payment differential to cover the cost of placing a single adult survivor in a room with two beds. This would open many more shelter spaces for survivors without children without hurting shelter providers' long-term financial stability.

Our state has the resources to ensure that all survivors have access to domestic violence shelters. Hochul must sign the SAFE Shelter Act into law, because survivors cannot wait any longer.

Liz Roberts is the CEO of Safe Horizon, the nation's largest nonprofit victim assistance organization. Audacia Ray is the Interim Executive Director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project, the largest anti-LGBTQ violence organization in the country.