KITTANNING, Pa. — Gov. Tom Wolf has released federal funding to help local domestic violence shelters remain open for the time being, despite previously saying that the funds couldn't be released unless a state budget is passed.
For the first time in more than five months, domestic violence shelters like HAVIN in Kittanning are receiving some financial relief as a result of the federal funding. The money had been frozen during the ongoing budget stalemate.
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HAVIN received a little more than $18,000.
"That will help us for two weeks. Two weeks is better than no weeks. I'm trying to be optimistic about it," HAVIN Executive Director Jo Ellen Bowman said.
The shelter operates on $60,000 to $70,000 per month. Since the budget impasse began in July, it has received a little more than $40,000.
"It's not like we're getting anything extra; we're just getting what we should have got already," Bowman said.
Channel 11 asked Wolf Thursday why it took five months for a small amount of domestic violence dollars to be released.
"The conversation took that long in terms of our understanding of what we could do and our understanding of what we're allowed to do from the federal government," Wolf said. "This we can get out, so we did."
However, if legislators don't pass a budget by the end of the year, HAVIN will close in mid-January.
"Never have we had to deal with something like this. I just hope this is the last year this happens, and I hope they resolve it pretty soon," Bowman said.
Wolf told Channel 11 that he expects to have a state budget passed within the next two weeks.
WPXI
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