There were eleven domestic violence shelters in Puerto Rico to serve a population of 3.2 Million inhabitants:
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However, due to mostly fiscal reasons, prior to Hurricane María, the number of Puerto Rico domestic violence shelters declined from eleven to eight. The domestic violence shelters that remained open during the hurricane period were:
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Due to the devastation that Hurricanes Irma and María caused on the archipelago in 2017, three of the eight domestic violence shelters that were open suffered so severely from the impact of the storms, or were denied funds that were spent elsewhere during the disaster, that they were forced to temporarily close.
Casa Protegida Julia de Burgos (North) suffered a forced economic closure for two weeks in part because the local government, one of the shelter’s primary funders, had not approved the legislative funds to pay salaries before the hurricanes hit. The shelter’s coordinator volunteered her time without pay and cared for the shelter the best way she could with no funds to operate it. Casa de la Bondad was forced to close for a period of time due to the Hurricane damage, but kept its transitional housing and ambulatory services open. Capromuni I was forced to close for a period of time after the hurricane and evacuated its clients to State sponsored shelters. |
#1
Lack of communication and transportation compounded the inability to report Domestic Violence crimes and made it impossible for victims to arrive to shelters |
#2 Lack of police presence, and when there was police presence, the police stations were understaffed, or at times there was no will on behalf of police officers to prioritize Domestic Violence crimes, investigate, & arrest aggressors |
#3 Courts were closed for a period of time & when courts re-opened, or some temporary courts were established, they were not at full functioning capacity, if at all existent in rural areas most devastated by the hurricanes |
#4 Puerto Rico suffered a massive exodus of citizen from the islands to the mainland US resulting in a decrease of the population by approximately 230,000+ US citizens |
Capromuni I
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Capromuni II
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Casa de La Bondad
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Casa Protegida Julia de Burgos
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Hogar Ruth
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Hogar Nueva Mujer Santa Maria de la Merced, Inc.
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