Santa Clara County faces crisis as budget cuts threaten domestic violence services

Santa Clara County residents fleeing domestic violence may have a harder time finding safety come July.

Due to a slashing of federal funding for crime victims, Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed a nearly 45 percent reduction in money to crime victim services in the state. These cuts could mean the shuttering of domestic violence shelters, longer wait times for crisis hotline assistance and services like counseling, staff layoffs and as many as 19,200 unmet requests for shelter, according to the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.