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Domestic Violence Centers See More Activity As Economy Sours

Tribune file photo by JULIE BUSCH (2008)

Linda Osmundson, executive director of CASA, blows out her candle to conclude a vigil to remember 11 victims of domestic violence murdered in Pinellas County. Groups that help domestic violence victims such as CASA are seeing greater demands for their services.

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By SHERRI ACKERMAN

sackerman@tampatrib.com

Published: April 1, 2009

TAMPA - The beatings are more brutal, the families more desperate.

In recent months, as the recession has deepened, The Spring of Tampa Bay and domestic violence shelters statewide have experienced a jump in the demand for services and shelter.

From July 1 through early January, calls for help at The Spring rose 31 percent and referrals for assistance such as housing and domestic violence injunctions increased 61 percent.

"It's a nervous time," said Joanne Olvera Lighter, president of The Spring, a 102-bed shelter and Florida's largest. "We at the crisis center and others are seeing a very heightened level of violence. This is a very fraught moment in our society."

Across the bay, St. Petersburg's CASA is seeing a similar spike with 30 percent more need for services. The agency's outreach program has seen the biggest jump in demand, and has had to refer people to other shelters because CASA is almost always full.

From July to February, nearly 600 people were referred elsewhere, said Bonnie Rosendale, the agency's director of community and legal outreach.

Statewide, domestic violence centers in Florida have seen a 37 percent increase in demand for emergency shelter service since last fall, according to the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

The coalition surveyed the state's 42 certified domestic violence shelters from August through December for a report prepared for the Legislature. Last year, 14,504 victims sought shelter; so far this year, the shelters have housed 8,076 victims, reported the Tallahassee Democrat.

The Spring is housing a wide variety of people these days, including more adults, older women and even men, Olvera Lighter said. When The Spring first opened, 75 percent of its shelter occupants were children; today it's 51 percent.

She is also seeing more women in their 40s, 50s and 60s at the shelter as well as men, typically 10 to 12 a year. Last year, The Spring housed 26 percent of men sheltered statewide.

Most domestic violence experts blame the economy for the increase. With an unemployment rate teetering close to 10 percent – the worst in 15 years – stress is taking its toll on families, they say.

But Olvera Lighter and others aren't so sure.

"It's certainly a compounding factor," she said. "Families feel very disempowered. However, there's a difference between batterers and just having a bad day."

Over at CASA, workers aren't hearing complaints about the economy, Rosendale said, "but I have to believe there's some sort of stress.

"We're all feeling the pinch," she said, even at the centers, which have weathered cuts to budgets and staff.

"Less funding, less staff, less food, less everything."

Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144.

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