Countywide : Abused Women Get Long-Term Shelter

A unique shelter has opened in the county, offering abused women and their children apartments where they can live independently for up to a year while patching their lives back together.

The apartments, called Second Step, are something of an anniversary project for Human Options, a South County shelter that has been providing emergency housing for battered families for 10 years.

Human Options opened a 16-unit apartment house in the central county last month and has since moved in three women and six youngsters. Most emergency shelters for battered women, including Human Options, allow families to stay no more than 45 days.

Without alternative housing, shelter directors say, women often feel they have no alternative but to return to abusive mates.

Human Options director Vivian Clecak said that providing a secure living environment for women while they work to meet such goals as furthering their education and finding a job is a critical step in moving families back into the mainstream of society.

“We found the biggest thing that locks women in a battering situation is economic dependence and the lack of affordable housing,” Clecak said. “Hopefully, within one year, the woman can go out and support herself and her kids in a decent way and have a decent apartment.”

Interval House, an emergency shelter in the western part of the county, opened its Second Stage Transitional Shelter early last year to house up to 25 battered women and children. In that program, families live communally for an undetermined length of time, depending upon their situation.

At Second Step, women are allowed to move in only after they have “graduated” from the Human Options program and can show their commitment to meeting goals that will better their lives, Clecak said.

One occupant, who used the name Heather to conceal her identity from her husband, said the housing opportunity means she can continue her education, which she hopes will lead to a job as an elementary-school teacher.

The woman said shelter workers helped her get back on her feet when she came to Orange County after fleeing a husband who was threatening her and her young son. She is still undergoing counseling through Human Options.

“Human Options was with me the whole way,” she said. “They supplied me with furniture, clothing . . . food, just an incredible network.”

Clecak said long-term housing for battered women is much needed in this area.

“Orange County is 44th in the nation in affordable housing,” she said. “We’re going to change that with a model program that will serve 15 families a year and demonstrate what it takes to lift a family out of poverty and domestic violence.”

Human Options received a five-year, $1.2-million grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to support the program. Clecak said a $250,000 donation from the Harry and Grace Steele Foundation enabled the organization to make the down payment on the apartment building, which is supported by donations from foundations, corporations and individuals.

Women staying at the shelter who have jobs pay one-third of their income toward rent.

The locations of such shelters are kept confidential for the safety of the women and their children.