Women’s Advocates launches hotel stay project for domestic abuse victims

Victims of domestic violence will have more options for shelter, with the launch of a new emergency hotel stay project.

Women’s Advocates in St. Paul is now able to place people in at least 75 hotels across the metro for up to ten days at a time.

“It will give them some breathing room. We have ten days to decompress, to start to plan: where am I going to go next? Who do I have for support?” said Mary Beth Becker-Lauth, community education and outreach manager at Women’s Advocates.

The new program, which launched at the beginning of October, is covered by American Rescue Plan Act grant money.

Becker-Lauth said it comes at a time when domestic violence shelters cannot meet the growing demand.

“All of the shelters in the Twin Cities combined are getting about 1,000 to 2,000 calls per night and there are still only about 400 total beds available,” Becker-Lauth said. “There’s a huge need and it’s really going unmet.”

She said expanding into hotels provides extra emergency shelter space and can serve larger families, which may not fit in a traditional shelter room.

Because victim-survivors can be placed in a wide number of hotels, Becker-Lauth said it will also make it harder for an abuser to find them.

“It will make a huge difference,” said Pethuel LeFlore, a domestic violence survivor.

LeFlore said she sought shelter at Women’s Advocates back in 2003 with her young son, while eight months pregnant.

“The relationship after marriage became very abusive,” LeFlore said. “I left one day and I never returned. I was able to breathe and it was an exhale I had never experienced before.”

LeFlore said short-term lodging can have a long-term impact in someone’s life.

She was able to get a fresh start and now runs the Oasis of Love Crisis Intervention Center in north Minneapolis.

“What I’m most excited about in my life currently is that I’m paying it forward. I want people to see and discover that they too can have a voice and they can live their life out loud,” LeFlore said. “We teach people how to live past trauma.”

Women’s Advocates has already received several calls about the new hotel project and plans to start placing people in hotel rooms immediately.

If you or a loved one are experiencing domestic violence and would like to learn more about the emergency hotel stay project, call 651-401-5571.

You can also reach the Women’s Advocates 24/7 crisis line here: 651-227-8284

To learn more about Women’s Advocates, click here: https://www.wadvocates.org/