A domestic and sexual violence shelter in Hastings will be closing its doors in mid-November. It’s expected to affect about 200 people who seek a safe haven there each year. The shelter has 21 beds.

“It has been a fixture for decades in Dakota County,” said Jeff Mortensen, the president and CEO of 360 Communities.

He explained as they’ve faced increasing demand, costs and inflation, state and federal grant funding hasn’t kept up.

“What’s happened is the funding has flowed to our organization and other domestic and sexual violence organizations across the state has remained flat for the past six years,” said Mortensen. “We’ve been running leaner and leaner and leaner.”

This year, he said they again received a flat amount and it was a tipping point.

“We had to make a different kind of deeper, harder decision,” said Mortensen. “It’s not something we wanted to do. We’re as an organization in a bit of a mourning process with the loss of that facility.”

Katie Kramer, the operations director for Violence Free Minnesota, called the announcement “saddening.”

Violence Free Minnesota is a coalition to end relationship abuse and there are 90 member organizations across the state. According to Kramer, more than 68,000 domestic and sexual violence survivors receive services through those members each year. 360 Communities isn’t the only provider feeling stressed.

“Absolutely we are in the middle of a crisis right now in terms of being able to provide those services and that is due to a lack of funding,” she said. “We really fear that the closing of the Lewis shelter is going to be something we continue to see.”

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reached out to the U.S. Office for Victims of Crime and the Minnesota Office of Justice Programs for a response about the funding challenges but did not hear back.

Mortensen explained they are working to help each individual and family staying at the Hastings Lewis House transition into a new safe place to stay. 

The organization is also working on plans to replace its Eagan Lewis House shelter, which will more than double its capacity to 50 beds.

“This decision we were forced into earlier than we wanted to be so short term there’s a capacity issue but our plan is still to aggressively go after that, now more than ever,” said Mortensen.