Supporting Domestic Violence Survivors in New York
Airbnb and Sakhi for South Asian Women announced today a partnership to provide funding to residents fleeing gender-based violence during the pandemic, as the City and State reopen. This partnership will support Sakhi’s existing Transitional Housing Program, which helps provide survivors of gender-based violence with access to no-cost accommodations in New York.
Reliable shelter for survivors is a crucial need, as many survivors who have been isolated in unsafe home environments during the COVID-19 pandemic may now be able and desiring to flee. As such, Airbnb will be providing additional funding for the Transitional Housing program and Sakhi will be connecting survivors directly with places to stay.
“With this generous gift from Airbnb, Sakhi will be able to address the rapidly-growing issues of housing insecurity and instability caused by the pandemic,” said Kavita Mehra, Executive Director of Sakhi for South Asian Women. “Throughout our 31 years of advocacy and service work, we have weathered many difficult storms. This pandemic, however, is unprecedented in how it has affected our work and our constituency. Even as we traverse this unknown path, we are grateful for community members like Airbnb, who are supporting our legacy of resilience. As an organization that recognizes safe shelter as a human right, we understand that providing housing solutions is a crucial element of both breaking the cycle of gender-based violence and of a survivor’s healing process. This gift will help enable survivors to realize this right to shelter and achieve greater financial stability.”
“We’re proud to be working with Sakhi to help this vulnerable population in this time of rising need,” said Alex Dagg, Airbnb Senior Policy Director for the Northeast. “Our hope is that through this program survivors in need of shelter will quickly be connected to free places to stay.”
Survivors in need of housing assistance should reach out to Sakhi at 1(212)868-6741, text 1(305)697-2544, or email advocate@sakhi.org.