BATON ROUGE - Domestic violence shelters in Louisiana, long struggling financially, are at risk of losing millions.

In 2023, legislators boosted shelter funding by $7 million dollars after state auditors determined facilities could not adequately support survivors on existing budgets.

This year's proposed budget rolls back what advocates were told could be recurring funds. 

In May, Iris Domestic Violence Center was set to open a new children's wing, but Executive Director Patti Freeman says with the cutbacks, the money will need to come from somewhere else. Iris is in East Baton Rouge Parish, but the shelter serves eight parishes and more than 850,000 people.

"How do we hope to reduce these crimes, or this type of crime going forward, if we're not providing the services and the education and the outreach that's needed to do that?" Freeman said.

In 2021, legislative auditors found that shelters couldn't do their jobs with the money they had. Prior to state funding, shelters operated on federal funding and community donations.

Mariah Wineski with the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence says a cut of this magnitude will immediately close 200 domestic violence shelter beds from Shreveport to Slidell. 

"The intent of our request and the intent of the legislature was to stabilize victim services statewide," Wineski said. "You can't do that with a one time influx of money."

The $7 million went towards five completely new shelters, additional beds, and expanding legal services for survivors. 

"We will once again be in a position where domestic violence victims are falling through the cracks," she said.

In Louisiana, one in five women and one in seven men are victims of domestic violence, and often children are a part of the equation in ending generational abuse. Freeman says the children's wing would provide the needed, specialized support. 

"Those will later be the persons who perpetuate crimes or perpetuate victimization in domestic violence because that's become their normal."

If the next state budget does not include money for domestic violence services, Freeman says it's back to the drawing board.