The Compass Center for Women and Families has just surpassed $1 million in donations to open more emergency housing for victims of domestic violence in Orange County.
As part of the nonprofit’s Safe Homes, New Lives campaign, victims fleeing violence now have the opportunity find a safe haven in Orange County.
Under this campaign, the Compass Center is currently leasing various apartments across the county to shelter domestic violence victims for a few days to up to three months. This is known as “scattered housing.”
The county has lacked a domestic violence shelter for more than two decades, and the Compass Center has been actively working for the last few years to bridge that gap.
In October of 2020, the Compass Center reached its goal of raising $675,000 to maintain three apartments over three years with additional staffing. In light of this new $1 million milestone, the center is now working to open four more apartments by the end of the year.
“Our public campaign launched only about a year ago and we never imagined that we were going to get over a million dollars,” said Joy Shaver, the director of domestic violence crisis services at the Compass Center. “I’m just so proud of our community, seeing this need and really responding to it.”
Shaver said while they have always helped survivors find safe havens in other counties, the need for more localized emergency housing has become more apparent over the last few years, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2019, more than 2,500 Orange County residents reported domestic violence with more than 250 residents requesting emergency housing, however the Compass Center was only able to locally place 15 adults and 5 children in brief hotel stays.
In March of 2020, the center saw a 116 percent increase in emergency housing requests in comparison to March of 2019. Shaver said addressing this growing need for emergency housing was a top priority.
“As people probably know, domestic violence is a pattern of control that ultimately can lead to the murder of the victim,” Shaver said. “One of the ways that we prevent that is by really offering a safe place for somebody to go when they are escaping that abuse.”
The Compass Center decided on scattered emergency housing – in this case, apartments – over a single shelter for four main reasons. These reasons include providing adequate services that reach all of Orange County, having a long-term sustainable housing model, prioritizing the safety and confidentiality of survivors and to better focus on the healing of clients.
Shaver said working with an apartment model means also means the Compass Center can give each client it serves the individualized care they deserve.
“It also means that we can do things like house pets in some of our apartments,” Shaver said. “Many people will not leave without taking their pets with them. We can also host larger families, which is so important. Just the diversity of our community with men and trans people being housed safely – all of those things were so important to us and I’m so proud that we can now offer safe housing to all of those people.”
To learn more about the Compass Center or donate to the Safe Homes, New Lives campaign, click here.
Lead photo via Ann Simpson/Compass Center.
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