SafeNest clients say domestic violence shelter's rhetoric doesn't match their reality

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — SafeNest says it supports more than 11,000 domestic and sexual abuse victims every year.

While many have positive experiences and can get the help they need, some do not.

In our previous reports in this series, we've discussed in detail several of the issues and concerns that SafeNest clients have shared with us.

Now, we're going to do a bit of fact-checking on what SafeNest promises to provide versus what more than a dozen clients say they received.

"When I came into that program, I signed an agreement," said former SafeNest client April, referencing what every client entering the SafeNest shelter has to sign. It's a bill of rights, so to speak, as well as responsibilities. But the residents we spoke to say the rhetoric didn't match their reality, starting with the right to be respected.

"It was an absolute nightmare in this place!" says former SafeNest client Lauren. Along with her children, Lauren escaped abuse on the outside but says it was only to be bullied and threatened on the inside.

"She (another client in the shelter) told me she was gonna kill me and that I had fed my son to the lions."

MJ also lived in the shelter with her child.

"Life for me and her there... We were bullied, picked on. I had another girl in one of the houses I stayed in try to strangle me there."

Resident right #2Safety and privacy.

But April says, "Every day it's alarming to even wake up-to fights, yelling and screaming, people saying their stuff is missing."

Resident right #3The right to confidentiality, including a prohibition against taking photos or recording video on shelter property. But residents say that allows staff to turn a blind eye to bad behavior.

"If they don't see it, it never happened," says former SafeNest client Natasha.

"I knew they wasn't going to believe me so I had to take pictures," added April.

Resident right #4The right to live without the threat of violence, and no weapons are permitted anywhere on the property.

For Natasha, "The first night I got there, the women were fighting each other. There's been a woman who's been pistol-whipped. A lady brandished a knife at me."

SafeNest says, "Domestic and sexual abuse victims may come to SafeNest with clothes, food, and possessions that, due to the delicate nature of their emotional and psychological state, we do not scrutinize or inspect. To do so would further strip survivors of their dignity."

Resident right #5Residents have the right to a healthy, sober, drug-free environment.

"There's more violence and drug activity in there," said Natasha. "And they're sweeping it under the rug."

"It's continuous drug use in the shelter," added Lauren. "There was a woman in my house who actually was smoking crystal meth. My autistic son picked up an ecstasy pill off the bathroom floor."

SafeNest says, "Our shelter is a communal living environment where we support women, men, children, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community who are escaping lethal situations and in a high degree of trauma and mental stress. SafeNest's clients enter our shelter clean and sober, or with addictions we cannot control. They come and go in and out of our shelter freely."

The document residents sign upon entering the shelter also states that they are expected to maintain sanitary rooms safe for children and clean up after themselves in the kitchen and bathroom.

SafeNest says it conducts daily cleaning of all the common areas and brings in a professional company to deep clean the kitchen once a month. However, residents we spoke to provided multiple photos and videos over weeks and months in the shelter showing unclean and unsanitary kitchens and bathrooms.

In one cell phone video showing sinks and surfaces covered in dirty dishes, Lauren narrates, saying, "The house was cleaned two days ago. Me and my roommate sat up, cleaning it. Like, took all the trash out and everything. Look at it now! Look at this! Look at the (mold-covered) bread that they're leaving in here! You see this? People are too lazy to take the trash out, so they just throw it on the floor. All over! I mean, this is on the regular. And we're told they can't make people clean up."

The rights and responsibilities document also states that residents can report concerns or problems without fear of mistreatment or services being denied, but MJ says, "The more you made a grievance, it was like you were a problem."

If you are asked to leave, the document says, "SafeNest will work with you to the best of our abilities to identify another safe place for you to go and to safely plan for your family."

Lauren says, "I was given a 48-hour exit notice without any transitional housing."

Lauren shared with 13 Investigates a picture she took of a dry-erase board listing exit dates for 34 residents, including her. Some of the residents told us they had not been told their time was up.

"Once they found out that I had the picture of the board and knew that they were putting people out, they put me out with 48-hour notice," Lauren told us. "Right now I'm actually sleeping on someone's floor," she said in early June.

This year's homeless census showed a dramatic rise in the number of unhoused females, who now account for more than 63 percent of Clark County's homeless population. In the census, 237 people were identified as victims of domestic violence.

SafeNest client Talora wrote of becoming part of that statistic when she was forced out of the shelter.

In a text exchange between herself and her SafeNest advocate in late July, Talora writes of being discharged 11 days before she could access her new apartment and start her new job. She was facing homelessness in the oppressive summer heat. Talora wrote, "I am devastated to become a statistic. I don't even own a tent."

"And she ended up in the tunnels," Darcy Spears said to SafeNest CEO Liz Ortenburger. "Why are clients being sent out of the home onto the streets?"

"So, it's absolutely never our intention to exit people into homelessness," Ortenburger replied. She said sometimes victims don't want to go to another shelter. Sometimes they're forced out because they're a danger to other clients.

"During COVID, there was money available for hotels and things like that. That money is no longer available, so some clients feel like, if I create enough disruption in my stay at shelter then they're going to have to exit me to a hotel, which is not an option that we have," Ortenburger said.

While clients have no maximum length of stay, she says they must work on their Hope Plan with their advocate. If they don't, she says SafeNest does its best to support them in moving on.

We asked Ortenburger for her reaction to the disconnect between the list of residents rights and clients' actual experiences, providing her with a transcript of quotes from the interviews that we did and emails we received from former SafeNest clients.

She said SafeNest's privacy policy prevents her from commenting but promised to take every concern to heart.

"We house 750 adults in the shelter a year. This (referring to those we spoke to) is not the overwhelming majority of folks that we are serving."

She added, "I will, of course, digest this with my team as we continue working to have the best possible space that we can with the resources we have for survivors."

It was emotional and heartbreaking listening to the women share their suffering and how defeated they were by what they encountered at SafeNest. But we do want to emphasize how important domestic violence survivor services are.

SafeNest stands on solid moral ground, but the women we spoke to say it has work to do. We hope our reports will help shine a light on what needs to be done. Every survivor is worthy of dignity, respect and safety.

That being said, many of you have asked who holds SafeNest accountable for its alleged failures?

In part, oversight comes from the Nevada Division of Child and Family Services. We recently learned DCFS gave all the information we exposed to another state agency-the Bureau of Health Care Quality and Compliance-which certifies the domestic violence treatment program at SafeNest. State inspectors are now investigating and tell us they'll publish a report of findings online when they're finished. We will also report on those findings once we get them.

The victims in our story are also filing formal complaints with the Nevada Attorney General.

Also, like all non-profits, SafeNest has a board of directors who are required by the IRS to ensure independent oversight.

SafeNest has been aware of our investigation for almost two months. Since September 19, 13 Investigates has been communicating with one of their board members, Selena Torres, who's also a state lawmaker, trying to get an interview or statement from the board. Assemblywoman Torres repeatedly promised to provide something but never did.

So, 13 Investigates emailed each board member after our first series of stories aired in late October. They responded on Tuesday, saying our report was not fair and balanced.

They wrote, "The SafeNest board of directors has performed our own due diligence and stands unified in its unwavering support for SafeNest's mission and the impactful work led by our CEO, Liz Ortenburger."

But, as always, we want to be as transparent as possible with you-our viewers.

You can read the SafeNest board's full statement here:

You can also see all my reports in this series at ktnv.com/13investigates.