DALLAS (1080 KRLD) - The partial government shutdown is starting to affect Texas women's shelters.
Gloria Terry, the CEO of the Texas Council on Family Violence says Office of Justice programs employees are being furloughed. They administer monies from the Violence Against Women Victim of Crime Act funds in the form of reimbursements that eventually wind their way to individual shelters.
She says the hardest hit will be smaller shelters in smaller towns where there is already a scarcity of services. "I think it's going to paralyze their operations. I've already had a shelter reach out to me and say I've already furloughed one employee, I'm about to furlough the last two. I'm going to stay on because we have people in the shelter and I'm just going to work without pay."
She says she's been talking to executive leaders at shelters all week. "We're talking about strategies that include opening a line of credit to tide things over, just doing some things we can proactively think about. But there are some organizations that are telling me they're going to stay fully operational for the next week. Then they'll go down to 75 percent, then 50 percent, and if it's a prolonged shutdown they'll have to furlough all employees and close operations."
She adds shelters offer an array of services, including court accompaniment for protective orders. "Just the basic food and consumables that people need when they come into a shelter, because they've left everything that they own at home. There is a significant ripple effect."
Paige Flink, CEO of the Family place in Dallas says her organization has enough cash on hand to last four months.
She says government funds make up 40 percent of their budget. "No unplanned expenses, no capital expenditures that we might have planned. There were things we were planning on doing in the first quarter that we just won't."
She says the Family Place runs a life and death operation. "We keep people safe from being killed by domestic violence. We would be considered a critical service. I just can't imagine telling people sorry, we can't take you because I had to send the staff home because I can't pay them."