A Game-Changing Approach: Providing Anonymous Hotel Check-Ins for Domestic and Sexual Violence Survivors

"Safe Stays by ReloShare grew from a small pilot in Chicago in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, to a program that today serves 800+ agencies across the U.S. and supports tens of thousands of reservations each year. Reloshare recently launched its No Room to Dream campaign, highlighting the childhood homelessness crisis and the urgency of fast, anonymous placements."

"During the pandemic, calls to domestic violence hotlines spiked, as a result of this "pandemic within a pandemic," with reported increases in the severity of injuries. As an essential service, domestic violence shelters remained open; however, the increase in demand coupled with social distancing requirements, resulted in a " state of emergency" for the shelter system-a crisis playing out again in the wake of the current government shutdown, leaving shelters and hotlines with limited resources to stay staffed and open."

Safe Stays by ReloShare operates an anonymized hotel booking system that protects clients’ identities while expanding access to immediate, secure shelter. The program began as a small Chicago pilot during the early COVID-19 pandemic and now serves over 800 agencies nationally, facilitating tens of thousands of reservations annually. ReloShare launched the No Room to Dream campaign to draw attention to childhood homelessness and the need for rapid, anonymous placements. Domestic violence hotlines and shelters experienced spikes in calls and injury severity during the pandemic, creating a shelter-system emergency compounded by social distancing and current funding and staffing crises. Faith Power described women driving with nowhere to go, and Paige Allmendinger previously placed families in apartments through an early program.

Read at Ms. Magazine