Annual service numbers: 12 percent growth in number of survivors served shows need for Haven’s new shelter
Haven served 12 percent more domestic violence survivors this past fiscal year than the year before, an increase that outpaces even the high growth (3 percent annually) of the Bozeman area, our internal annual service numbers show.
Source: Haven internal service numbers, 2021-2022 fiscal year.
Haven’s annual service numbers, released every August at the end of our July-to-July fiscal year, also show a 9 percent increase in the number of what we call “bed nights” – a night in a bed in our current shelter or in a hotel, for a survivor and their children.
While we did see these increases in the past fiscal year, what we didn’t see were big increases in the individual services – counseling and legal advocacy for example – that survivors can access. What this says to us is the need for shelter is exploding, likely because of the housing crunch in Gallatin Valley.
It also demonstrates that our new shelter – which will eventually quadruple our capacity to shelter survivors – is coming at a good time. We’re planning on opening the doors to the Barnard Center in winter 2023. You can follow along on the construction progress on our blog here and here.
What else our end-of-year numbers show:
Mirroring Gallatin Valley’s housing shortage, the average length of stay at shelter increased 39 percent – from 52.5 nights to 73 nights.
This was the first year since Covid-19 that pandemic-related spikes have started to level out. Calls to the 24-hour support line, for example, have leveled out after the all-time high we saw in fiscal 2020-2021. Hotel stays during that first pandemic year – up 127 percent then – and emergency financial assistance – up 196 percent then – have also leveled out.
Thank you for standing with survivors and making the new shelter possible, at a time when the need for our services keeps growing in Gallatin County and beyond.
Media coverage of our annual numbers:
“Haven sees uptick in people seeking emergency shelter,” Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Aug. 26.
“Gallatin Valley shelter for domestic violence survivors is expanding,” KBZK, Aug. 28.
“Haven sees an increase in people seeking their services,” ABC Fox Montana, Aug. 28.
“Bozeman nonprofit Haven expanding services to help more survivors,” NBC Montana, Aug. 29.