This is the first story of a three-part series about the intersection of domestic violence and homelessness in Fresno. This article was produced as a project for the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s Domestic Violence Impact Reporting Fund and was originally published by The Intersection.
Domestic violence and homelessness often intersect. In fact, it’s common for one to lead to the other. But in Fresno County – which has one of the highest rates of DV calls to law enforcement in California – only one shelter exclusively serves people facing both.
The Marjaree Mason Center, a short-term shelter that aims to help people into long-term housing, is a boxy building in a quiet subdivision. It has 40 individual rooms for people and families escaping danger in their homes or on the streets. And while it’s common for shelters to have large, shared rooms with rows of beds and no privacy, Leticia Campos, the center’s chief programs officer, said such conditions are inadequate for people leaving violent situations…