Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Re-authorization

On January 5, 2006 VAWA was reauthorized by Congress and signed into law by President Bush. The re-authorization has provisions that apply to owners on the voucher program. In a nutshell, the law prohibits owners from evicting a Domestic Violence victim by saying that (to paraphrase the law), an incident(s) of actual or threatened domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking will not be construed as a serious or repeated violation of the lease by the victim of that violence and will not be good cause for terminating the tenancy or occupancy rights of the victim of such violence.

The law also gives the right to an owner or manager to “bifurcate” (split) the lease to remove a person from the lease who engages in criminal acts of violence to family members or others with evicting the victimized tenants. Nothing in the law prohibits an owner from evicting a tenant for lease violations not related to domestic violence.

Though this re-authorization has been law since January, HUD is just now beginning to issue guidance and some forms needed to implement it. However, since it is now law, TMHA is required to notify owners / managers of the law provisions, in particular the eviction implications. We will give more information as we receive it.