| Gender-based violence illustration by Shalsa via Wikimedia Commons
NEW YORK – HOME+, a program that provides free and confidential security resources to survivors of domestic and gender-based violence who want to stay in their homes instead of entering shelter or going somewhere else, has been expanded, the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV) has announced.
Launched in 2021, HOME+ now provides survivors with additional options, including lock, door, and window repair and replacement services, when appropriate, including basic lock installation/replacement within 24 hours. These additional services provide survivors with emergency-response systems and personal alarms that clients can customize to notify trusted family, family, friends, service providers, or police when activated.
HOME+ is redesigning the New York City Human Resources Administration’s (HRA) Alternative to Shelter (ATS) program, eliminating requirements for an active order of protection and police response for program participation. The mayor’s office has provided over $1 million to move the program from City-run to borough-based non-profit service providers. It has resulted in a doubling of the number of program participants. Like other ENDGBV programming, HOME+ services are available to survivors regardless of language, income, gender identity, immigration status, or demographic factors.
HOME+ operates through partnerships between ENDGBV and local domestic and gender-based violence services organizations. Their staff works directly with program participants to assess risk, coordinate referrals, and provide related case management services.
Through its partnership with local service providers, its staff works with program participants to assess risk, coordinate referrals, and provide related case management services.
“HOME+ helps provide the resources needed to enhance basic safety measures for individuals and families affected by domestic, intimate-partner, or gender-based violence,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Ison.
Commissioner Cecile Noel of the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic ad Gender-Based Violence said the expanded program helps empower survivors who often suffer silently and fear to seek the help they need. Survivors are never alone, and help is always here for them through a wide range of City resources, including this crucial program,” she said.
“We are so thankful for the incredible work ENDGBV is doing to serve the City’s survivors, regardless of their immigration status or income, and for the HOME+ program partners who will ensure that all those in need of these services will have access to them,” said Department of Social Services Commissioner Gary P. Jenkins.
HOME+ operates in all five boroughs through partnerships with non-profit organizations HELP R.O.A.D.S./USA (Brooklyn), Rising Ground (Manhattan), Seaman’s Society (Staten Island), Violence Intervention Program (Bronx), and WomanKind (Queens). City-contracted vendor Maximum Security of Brooklyn provides lock, door, and window repair and replacement services. All calls and emails to ATS will be referred to the HOME+ provider in the appropriate borough. For help with HOME+, survivors can contact these numbers in their borough:
- BRONX: Violence Intervention Program (VIP), 1-800-664-5880
- BROOKLYN: HELP R.O.A.D.S./USA, 1-718-922-7980
- MANHATTAN: STEPS at Rising Ground, 1-877-783-7794
- QUEENS: Womankind, 1-888-888-7702 (call), 1-929-207-5907 (text only)
- STATEN ISLAND: Seamen’s Society for Children & Families, 1-917-524-5819
–With Jay Domingo/PDM
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