Federal grant applications for pet-friendly domestic violence shelters now open

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The PAWS Act Coalition – a group of for-profit and nonprofit organizations dedicated to protecting survivors of domestic violence and their pets – announced the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 US Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Victims of Crime (OVC) Emergency and Transitional Pet Shelter and Housing Assistance Grant Program.

Through the funding, the FY 2023 grants will provide shelter and transitional housing for survivors with pets, service animals, emotional support animals, or horses. The grants will go to programs that provide supportive services designed to help someone fleeing from an abuser to find and keep housing with their pet, that also has the accommodations the pet needs, or related services such as transportation. The funding will also provide existing grantees from FY 2020-2022 with training and technical assistance.

“The PAWS Act Coalition will work closely with the Department of Justice to raise awareness of the $3.3 million available to aid survivors of domestic violence and their pets,” said Steven Feldman, president of the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI), in an organizational release.¹ “We are proud to help spread to word about the opening of the 2023 grant applications, including the new category of awards which aims to provide technical assistance to reinforce existing grantees.”

OVC will fund 5 awards of up to $400,000 each to larger projects and up to $100,000 for 8 smaller projects. According to the release, an organization able to apply are states, city and township governments, United States territories, American tribal governments, and any other organization that has a documented history of effective work involving assault, dating violence, domestic violence, or stalking such as:¹

• Domestic violence and sexual assault survivor service provider
• Domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions
• Community-based and culturally specific organizations
• Any other nonprofit, nongovernmental organization

“Pet Partners registered therapy teams around the country are voicing their strong support for the PAWS Act Grant Program which brings more resources for domestic violence survivors and pets,” said Annie Peters, CEO of Pet Partners, in the release.¹ “We are so grateful that their advocacy paid off again this year, and the $3.3 million appropriated in 2023 will help more survivors of domestic violence remain together with their pets at a time when they need each other the most.”

The PAWS Act Coalition consists of Nestlé Purina PetCare, HABRI, Noah’s Animal House, Pet Partners, RedRover, and Urban Resource Institute (URI). Two of these, Noah’s Animal House and URI, are shelters that offer co-shelter services to keep pets and owners together as they escape a domestic violence situation. Their goal is to help make sure no domestic violence survivor is forced to pick between leaving their pet and staying in an abusive relationship.

Reference

Federal grant applications available to support pet-friendly domestic violence shelters. News release. The PAWS Act Coalition. March 14, 2023. Accessed March 14, 2023.