"A new Louisiana law has been signed to allow victims of sexual assault to receive early termination on their leases.
Hearts of Hope, a local nonprofit that helps assists sexual assault victims, says that this new law will relieve both a mental and financial burden off of those who feel 'stuck' or 'unsafe.'
'If you financially cannot get out of the place where this happened, and you have that fear of that suspect knowing that person who did this to you, knowing where you live, then you don't feel safe at all in your, in your house and your home or anywhere else,' Jencie Olivier, advocate at Hearts of Hope, said.
Olivier said once a victim is assaulted in their own place; it will never feel like 'home' again.
'What happens is every time they go into that room where it happened, then that person can be re-triggered and then not feel safe in their own home, every time they go in that room they're going to, they don't picture their room they can picture what actually happened to them in that place,' Olivier said."
Learn more about the connections between sexual violence and housing from Safe Housing Partnerships.
