HARTFORD — A new report shows Connecticut’s domestic violence emergency shelters are overloaded.
The Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence reports capacity in fiscal year 2016, when ended June 30, was 125 percent. The group’s 18-member domestic violence organizations provided services to nearly 34,000 adults and 6,000 children that year.
Karen Jarmoc, chief executive officer of the coalition, says the number of domestic violence victims seeking safety in the emergency shelters has grown tremendously over the past eight years. The shelters were at 57 percent capacity in 2008.
Victims are also spending more time at emergency shelters. The average length of stay is 46 days, up 77 percent in eight years.
In many instances, shelters have had to double the number of people using bedrooms or convert communal space to sleeping quarters.