Annual service numbers: 38% increase in survivors accessing shelter this year shows Haven has expanded at the right time
The number of survivors accessing shelter this year was up 38 percent from Haven’s previous fiscal year, our internal annual service numbers show.
Source: Haven internal service numbers, 2022-2023 fiscal year.
Haven’s annual service numbers, released every August at the end of our July-to-July fiscal year, show other significant increases over last year, including:
an 18 percent increase in safe bed nights (a night in our shelter or in a local hotel)
a nearly 10 percent increase in people contacting our 24-hour support line
new services that saw great responses from survivors, including:
welcoming survivors staying at shelter to bring their pets along (we had three pets on site in just the first three months of operations at our new shelter, a 100 percent increase from our former shelter)
expanding the hours of chatting and texting earlier this year (to 8 am to 8 pm, seven days/week), which resulted in a whopping 2,100 percent increase in the number of texts to the support line and the number of chats on our website
Most of the increases – aside from the ones attributed to new or expanded services – are likely a result of both Bozeman’s population growth and of the related housing crisis in the area.
Bozeman is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, and Gallatin County is leading the state in population growth. Given that one in five people will face intimate-partner violence in their lifetime, more people in the area translates to more instances of intimate-partner violence, more sexual assault, more trafficking. (And indeed, we’ve seen a 3 percent increase this year in the overall number of survivors who accessed a wide range of Haven’s services.)
The population growth locally – many people moved to Bozeman during the Covid-19 pandemic – has also contributed both to the increased prices of housing and to the low availability of housing throughout the area.
These numbers demonstrate that Haven opened The Barnard Center, Haven’s new shelter complex, at the right time. As of this writing, the shelter already is providing safety in a healing setting to more people than our former shelter had room for. We’re ramping up to full capacity in the coming months slowly and intentionally. We want to make sure we have the staff, resources, and infrastructure to maintain the high levels of support and the empowering environment Haven is known for.
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 Valley.
Related press coverage:
“Haven sees increase in requests for services,” ABC Fox Montana, Sept. 29.
“Shadow pandemic: Demand for Haven’s services grows amid housing crisis,” Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Oct. 2.
“Haven continues to see demand for services increase as Bozeman grows,” KBZK-TV, Oct. 6.