Pennsylvania Stalemate causes closing of 2 domestic-violence shelters

Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa.

Shelters for victims of domestic violence are beginning to close amid Pennsylvania state government’s 4-month-old budget stalemate.

Peg Dierkers of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence said Friday that two shelters are no longer taking new arrivals because state aid is being held up.

Dierkers says Huntingdon House in Huntingdon and the Women’s Center in Bloomsburg are working to relocate the victims currently in their shelters. Zabrina Finn of the Women’s Center says the organization will shelter new arrivals at hotels because some key staff positions are vacant.

Finn says the Women’s Center has instituted a partial freeze to save money.

Dierkers says both organizations continue to offer emergency crisis services and operate hotlines to help victims with safety planning. Employees at other organizations around Pennsylvania are working without pay or being laid off.