The legislature wants to add a new shelter for victims of domestic violence in Aguada although there is no money to maintain the current facilities.
     New Progressive Party lawmaker David Bonilla’s pet project has been assigned $750,000 but the enabling legislation does not provide a recurrent fund for upkeep.
     “It is a good thing to provide funds to build a shelter, but the measure did not assign funds to operate it," said Rita Prevetzel, a legal advisor for the Women’s Advocacy Office. "Those funds could also be better used to refurbish and maintain our other facilities.”
     The Office assists the Family Department in the management and maintenance of the island’s 15 shelters for victims of domestic violence.
     According to the legal official, running a shelter costs around $100,000 a year, including payroll and other costs.
     Among the service provided by the shelters are temporary housing, health benefits and transportation for victims of domestic violence.
     In 2010, there were 15,000 cases of domestic violence, 16 of them fatal.
     During the past decade, the average number of reported incidents is 16,000 per year, with an average of 17 fatal victims every 12 months.
     “The money is needed elsewhere. It could be used to serve the existing system and to provide better services to the hundreds of individuals who seek our help,” said Office aide Josefina Arroyo.
     Both officials stressed that the area where the shelter is being proposed is already serviced by two similar institutions, one in Aguadilla and the other in Hormigüeros.
     Each of those two shelters has an average capacity for 20 individuals with an average occupancy rate of 10.
     The Chairwoman of the House Community and Family Affairs Committee, NPP Rep. Elizabeth Casado, is skeptical of the concept in light of the lack of recurrent funding.
     “Certainly, the lack of continuing funding for a new shelter is troublesome, that’s why I’m inclined to side with the Office. Better to use that money to reinforce the current institutions,” Casado said.
     Her position was reinforced by comments made by Family Secretary Yanitsia Irizarry.
     In a written testimony, the Secretary expressed her desire that the legislature approves a funding line for the new shelter if the measure is finally approved.
     “In our current fiscal situation, it’s important that the legislature specifies in the text of the measure, the recurring funding assignment in order for the Department to implement the concept,” Irizarry said.
     Casado gave the Department as well as the Advocacy Office five days in which to provide their final conclusions to the bill.