SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio survey of the population experiencing homelessness reveals hundreds are women and children escaping domestic violence situations.
The latest Point in Time survey, which records homelessness trends, found that 524 people experiencing homelessness in San Antonio were fleeing abuse.
The overall count from 2023 increased by 51 percent.
The intersection between domestic violence and homelessness is why there has been one specific office at Haven for Hope since it opened in 2010.
The office belongs to Leslie Schultz, but she’s not a Haven for Hope employee.
Schultz is the Clinical Services Director at Family Violence Prevention Services which offers survivors resources, including the Battered Women and Children’s Shelter.
Because of Schultz’s team, Haven can provide those same wrap-around services to domestic violence survivors.
“I would say our counselors spend five to six hours a day with clients,” Schultz said.
That estimate adds up to an average of 200 hours a month with those clients.
Sometimes, those first sessions are about simply ensuring these women and men are experiencing abuse.
Abuse is most often thought of as physical or sexual, but Schultz wants people to know abuse can also be verbal, emotional and financial.
She said financial abuse can play a huge role in victim homelessness.
“They had no access to family finances. Even if they were employed, it was required that they gave their paycheck, endorsed to their offender,” Schultz said. “It’s a very scary decision, not just for physical safety, but knowing that you’re going to have to start all over again.”
When survivors can escape and are ready to be fully enrolled at Haven for Hope’s intake department, they are given forms where they can check off that they are fleeing domestic violence.
Even if they don’t check that box, once they get a case manager, they often realize they need help for abuse trauma.
Those families are led to Schultz and her team. They receive counseling, a case manager and employment classes.
Domestic violence survivors are placed at the top of the list for rapid re-housing alongside veterans and youth aged 18-25.
Schultz said she wants to see even more training for homeless shelter workers, who most often come in contact with people.
“Even people on the front lines are thinking of domestic violence as physical and or sexual assault and don’t understand that using children, using finances, the emotional, the verbal, they don’t understand that that is another component of the power and control pattern,” Schultz said.
Schultz also acknowledged another means of power and control: reproductive abuse.
Typically, survivors don’t come in with just one child, Schultz said.
“If someone is forced to continue to become pregnant, have children, (the) level of dependency upon offender spikes,” Schultz said. “‘You can’t make it without me’ or ‘I’ll do everything in my power to take all those kids away from you.’”
If the abuser finds the family at Haven for Hope or they prefer to be moved, they can be transferred to the Battered Women and Children’s Shelter where victims can receive those same resources.
“To be able to offer up options, we’re giving them their voice back, their autonomy, their empowerment,” Schultz said. “Most importantly: to know that they can live successfully without their offender.”
If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic violence, there is so much help for you. KSAT has a list of resources on its Domestic Violence webpage, which also explains how to identify different types of abuse.
If it’s an emergency, text or call 911. For wrap-around services including the Battered Women and Children’s Shelter, call Family Violence Prevention Services at (210) 703-8810.
You can also contact the Bexar County Family Justice Center which also provides wrap-around services at (210) 631-0100.