The goal of the Safe Housing program is to allow families to escape abuse with their pets, so ideally the pets would be housed until they can be safely reunited with the survivor. We suggest speaking with your domestic violence organization partner about the average length they expect pet boarding will be needed and start building your program from there. A survivor’s stay in an emergency domestic violence shelter is typically 30-90 days, but some programs can be longer. Transitional programs are often longer, and transitional housing is often not pet friendly. For animals that may need a longer-than-average stay, incorporating foster may be a way to get the animals some relief from long-term kenneling. The average length of stay for pets, reported both by previous Safe Housing grant recipients and through our Safe Escape program, is about 45 days.
