LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Finding the courage to escape domestic abuse is a multi-layered challenge. Those who flee abusers often need a lot of help, and many seek it at SafeNest — Nevada's largest domestic violence shelter.
But instead of a leg up, SafeNest is a setback, according to a group of victim-survivors who turned to 13 Investigates for help.
Last week, we introduced you to four of the 17 people who shared their stories of survival and asked us to amplify their voices and concerns about SafeNest.
That report centered on safety concerns documented inside the shelter, including accounts of fights, assault, battery, child abuse and wanted suspects at the shelter.
Watch the first part of our investigation here:
Now, we're hearing about unsanitary living conditions at SafeNest.
"It was just completely gross," says Natasha, who was at SafeNest for six months and left the shelter in the spring of this year.
She took multiple videos during her time there and says, "There are no ground rules at SafeNest. People leave their food out for days. It's so unsanitary. People give millions and millions of dollars to this organization and they just let people just tear it up. They don't clean up or anything, enforce any rules, nothing in here. It's disgusting."
Another resident who didn't want to go on camera sent an email to SafeNest staff in May, saying living conditions are inhumane. She wrote:
"I have never seen anything as disturbing as how this place is being operated. The smell in every fridge, leaking meat... This is doing nobody any justice. There's no healing here. There's no cleanliness. There is no order. The living standards are grotesque."
"You know how many times we've been sick from eating that food?" said MJ, who lived at SafeNest for six months. Part of that time, her nine-year-old daughter lived at the shelter with her.
Both MJ and Lauren — another woman who shared her experience with SafeNest — were especially concerned about their children's health during their stay.
"The kitchen was completely disgusting. Maggots on the counter, roaches everywhere," Lauren said.
As for the bathrooms, Natasha's videos show feces on walls, blood leaking from a trash can, hair and trash strewn on the floor and other unsanitary conditions.
"Maggots infested in our trash cans," said MJ. "There were holes in the walls, holes in the floors, the shower area...It was terrible. Our living environment was terrible."
We brought their concerns to SafeNest CEO Liz Ortenburger.
"They know they're not supposed to take pictures and videos, but they say if they don't, nobody believes them. If they don't document, nobody does anything about it," I told Ortenburger. "And they also think that the community at large needs to see what it looks like in there so they understand that their donations are going to a place where women are living in these conditions. The kitchen and the food area and the bathrooms in the pictures and videos that we've seen are not OK."
"I have no way to verify..." Ortenburger replied.
"I can show you everything that they gave us. None of it is a secret," I told her.
Ortenburger did not want to see the photos, saying, "We are in a communal living situation. We have a company that comes in every day and stocks and does basic cleaning in the restrooms and the kitchens. But it's a communal living situation, so there is that partnership with the clients that they're helping clean their spaces."
"There were 17 of us in a house," said MJ. "I was the only one who ever cleaned the house. And people would say, why do you clean up after these other women? I didn't do it for them. I did it for my daughter."
MJ and Lauren say children in the shelter are at risk in many ways.
"My autistic son picked up an ecstasy pill off the bathroom floor," Lauren said.
And Natasha filed a grievance with SafeNest after finding an M-30 pill on the floor. (Police say M-30s — called "blues" — are oxycodone and are often laced with fentanyl.)
Ortenburger says when something like that happens, they want to know about it right away.
"We have a robust grievance policy at the shelter, so folks are able to give input and information in a way that we can handle it on the ground," Ortenburger said.
But MJ says, "The more you made a grievance, it was like you were a problem. So, you were scared to tell or scared not to tell."
"They all said that their complaints fell on deaf ears, that the staff was not responsive, did not act, did not keep them safe," I told Ortenburger.
"So, we may have acted on those and that information may not have gotten back to the person filing the grievance as a protection of confidentiality," she replied.
To that point, Natasha was unaware what, if any, follow-up was done after she filed her grievance about the M-30 pill.
"I feel like it goes into a black hole or gets shredded or just looked at and swept under the rug," Natasha said.
There's no denying the delicate balancing act facing SafeNest staff — and the crucial services they're meant to provide — but the organization receives millions of taxpayer and donor dollars each year to provide shelter, safety and resources.
We'll follow the money when my investigation continues on Tuesday, Oct. 29.
13 Investigates