A Special Announcement from One of Our Partners:
NHLP is gathering stories from advocates
concerning VAWA implementation in rural areas
and your help is needed!
On April 2, NHLP’s Gideon Anders testified before the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development, and Insurance to assess the federal response to the affordable housing crisis in rural America. During Gideon’s testimony, Congressperson Gonzalez (D-TX), who is introducing a bill to extend VAWA protections to the Rural Development Voucher program, inquired about how VAWA’s housing protections are working for survivors in rural areas.
How you can help:
In response to Congressperson Gonzalez's question, NHLP is gathering stories from advocates concerning VAWA implementation in rural* areas.
- *Note: For purposes of this survey, consider rural areas as communities outside Metropolitan Statistical Areas that have population of less than 35,000 persons and are not part of a larger urbanized community.
NHLP is particularly interested in responses with respect to rental housing financed by Rural Development under Section 515 Rural Rental Housing, Section 514/516 Farm Labor Housing, and Section 538 RD Guaranteed Rental Housing program.
Based on your experience, please let us know whether housing providers:
- have posted a VAWA Notice of Occupancy Rights, VAWA Self-Certification Form, and Alternate Documentation Form in places where applicants and residents can see them.
- are providing these notice and forms to all persons who are denied admission, when they are assigned a unit at the development, and when they serve eviction notice to residents?
- have modified their leases, or attached a lease addendum to existing leases, to residents advising them of their rights under VAWA?
- have modified their Tenant Selection and Occupancy Rules, which should be posted at the development, to incorporate the rights of and protections afforded to applicants and tenants under VAWA?
- are rejecting VAWA survivors for occupancy at their developments?
- are assisting survivors to make emergency transfers within their development, to other developments under their control, or to other assisted development not under their control?
- are bifurcating leases to remove abusers without penalizing survivors and are re-certifying the remaining survivor to adjust for household size and income.
- have reached out to survivor advocacy groups to better assist survivors?
Please include any other information that you may have with respect to rural housing providers’ compliance, or lack thereof, with VAWA. Please e-mail your responses to me at kng@nhlp.org.
Thanks,
Karlo Ng
Supervising Attorney
National Housing Law Project
1663 Mission St., Suite 460
San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: (415) 432-5717
www.nhlp.org
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