Senator seeks facility to house abused women amid space shortage at shelters

Carolina District Sen. Marissa “Marissita” Jiménez Santoni announced Tuesday that she will be looking for a facility in the municipality of Carolina to create a temporary shelter for women who are victims of crimes in order to alleviate the congestion that exists in the shelter network, which already houses more than 500 women, as well as their children, all victims of abuse.

“The news that between January and October of this year, more than 500 women and their children have had to seek refuge in shelters for abused women [...] is dramatic and denotes the urgent need to create a support platform,” the New Progressive Party senator said. “In light of this, we are going to study the feasibility of creating a temporary shelter for women and their children in the Carolina area to serve as support for the network of shelters.”

Jiménez said she is looking for a facility, which could be an unused school, in order to create a temporary shelter of at least 10 rooms, which will be attached to the Department of Justice’s Office of Compensation and Services for Victims and Witnesses of Crime.