Did you know that when VAWA was renewed in 2013, its applicability was expanded? Yes indeed.
VAWA, the Violence Against Women Act, protects victims of stalking and domestic violence (whether or not they are women).
The facts about domestic violence and stalking are alarming. Although women are disproportionately victims, men are not immune.
According to the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence:
·
- Nearly one in five women and one in seventy-one men have been raped in their
lifetime.
·
- Women are four more times more likely than men to be beaten, six times more likely to
be slammed against something, and nine times more likely to be hurt by choking or
suffocating.
- One in six women nave been stalked during their lifetime; one in nineteen men have
experienced stalking in their lifetime.
Housing Programs covered by VAWA now include:
- HOME Investment Partnerships program
·
- Section 202 supportive housing for the elderly (including PAC and PRAC)
·
- Section 236 Rental Program
- Section 811 supportive housing for people with disabilities
- Section 221(d)(3) Below Market Interest Rate (BMIR) Program
- HOPWA housing program
- HUD's McKinney-Vento homeless programs
·
- Low-Income Housing Tax Credit properties
- USDA Rural Housing properties
What are the protections offered by VAWA? As of 2013, VAWA does the following:
·
- Prohibits eviction / termination due to a tenant's status as a survivor. Landlords
must maintain survivor tenant confidentiality. Landlords must not deny assistance,
tenancy, or occupancy rights based solely on criminal activity related to an act of
domestic violence committed against them.
· Includes victims of sexual assault in its protections, and ads the term "intimate
partner" to the list of eligible relationships. This includes anyone living with the
survivor and related to him by blood or marriage - spouse, parent. brother, sister,
child, or anyone to whom the survivor stands in loco parentis
- Permits lease bifurcation in order to allow the abuser to be removed from the
household without removing the victim. If the victim cannot establish eligibility, he
or she must be given a reasonable amount of time in which to find new housing or
establish eligibility under another covered housing program.
·
- Housing providers must provide a VAWA "notice of rights" at the time a person
applies for housing, when a person is admitted as a tenant of a housing unit, and
when a tenant is threatened with eviction or termination of housing benefits.
- HUD is expected to issue guidance on what "notice of rights" and "reasonable time" mean at
some future point. However, this does not mean that we should wait to provide the
protections. VAWA is in force now, and we should act accordingly. Ensure that your
Residents have signed the VAWA Lease Amendment (If your residents have not signed,
you can obtain it here. They should sign it at their next Lease renewal. Each adult family
member need only sign it once).
In addition, please add the following document, now on the Compliance Blog, to your application packet:
Notice of VAWA Protections
VAWA forms are also on the Forms and Procedures page of this blog, in the Application Packet and Lease sections.
Stay in this business long enough, and you'll have the experience of getting an inquiry that you're sure doesn't come from a "regular" applicant. Instead of asking the questions you're used to, they may seem more savvy. They may use terms that seem too much like industry jargon, or they may inquire about things that your average applicant just doesn't ask about. Something like this:
STAFF: "Good afternoon, Green Hills Apartments, this is Sally. May I help you?"
CALLER: "Yes, I'm twenty-eight and I am disabled. I'm wondering if I qualify to live there."
STAFF: "We have an application packet that discusses our eligibility criteria. May I send one to you?"
CALLER:"Well, you're elderly housing, right? So I'm wondering first what definition of disabled you use."
Right about now, Sally is starting to get that prickly feeling on the back of her neck. 'Oh, I HATE it when people ask questions like this,' she thinks. She doesn't want to not answer, and be seen as rude, but she doesn't want to say the wrong thing. And after all, your average applicant doesn't ask 'what definition of disability do you use?' Could this be a tester?
The short answer is, yes.
HUD's 2015 budget includes an increase of $10 million for the Fair Housing Initiatives Program, and a large focus of the increase will be the study of discrimination in housing. How does one study discrimination in housing? In large part, though testing.
Testers contact sites and, among other things, request applications and inquire about the housing. They may visit in person, call, or possibly even write. They may be of any race, color, or other protected class status. They can come at any time. For all I know, we may be tested regularly.
So what do we do?
The simple answer is, if you don't discriminate, you've got nothing to worry about. How do you accomplish that? Here are a few tips:
1. Have a site script, and use it. You should have the site script posted where you can get
to it easily if you need it. Don't take for granted that you know what to say and what not
to say. Remember, if there is a Fair Housing complaint, it's often your word against the
other person's. Having a site script that you use for every call goes a long way to
demonstrate what your answers are to particular questions.
2. Do not answer eligibility questions over the phone at any point before you have a
completed application in hand. Get in the habit of telling people that you can't answer
any questions about whether or not someone qualifies until you see an application. If
you have someone who says that they don't want to apply unless they know they will
qualify, tell them that company Fair Housing policy prohibits you from answering those
questions over the phone or before you've provided an application. Once you've sent or
provided an application, there is a little more leeway. If you get backed into a corner,
and feel you run the risk of discouraging an applicant if you don't answer the question,
read directly from your facility description (included in your application packet), or refer to your site script, which may contain the answer to the question. Again, the best
answer is, "We don't discuss whether a particular individual may or may not qualify
without an application on file."
3. Make sure your staff is trained. Ensure that all individuals who answer phone calls
and/or deal with the public know what they can and cannot say. Individuals with limited
knowledge and Fair Housing training should know that they should not answer any
questions about eligibility, wait lists, or applications - those questions should be referred
to the Administrator, Assistant Administrator or Occupancy Specialist, depending on site
staffing and training level.
Some other Fair Housing tips:
1. Make sure maintenance, housekeeping, kitchen, or other staff are aware of Fair
Housing, too. While they may not require the amount of Fair Housing training that an
Administrator does, they should, at a minimum, know what they should or should not say
to or around residents. A good bridge to this is the Non-harassment policy that they are
required to sign. An easy way to ensure that you do this regularly is to make it part of a
staff meeting on an annual basis. It doesn't have to be complicated - just have them
review the Non-harassment policy and give them an opportunity to ask questions. If you
find that your staff has a lot of questions or concerns, I'm happy to come and speak with
them.
2. Check your postings on a regular basis. Are they worn or faded? Can a person in a
wheelchair read them easily at the height they're posted? Are they all there? Are they
current?
Postings can be found here:
State:
CT "Discrimination is Illegal" Poster (English)
CT "Discrimination is Illegal" Poster (Spanish)
HUD:
FHEO "house" logo poster. You can order one or make your own. The logo can be
found in different formats and sizes here.
HUD Fair Housing Poster (English)
HUD Fair Housing Poster (Spanish)
This poster is also available in Arabic, Bengali, Cambodian, Chinese, Farsi,
French, Haitian, Creole, Hindi, Hmong, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Lao,
Polish, Russian, Tagalog and Vietnamese.
You should have it in any language spoken at your site.
Other optional HUD handouts and postings can be found here.
USDA:
And Justice For All poster
3. If you don't know what to do, don't guess - ask for help. Call your Regional Manager,
me, or Tammy if you aren't sure about something. Fair Housing mistakes can be costly. Don't be afraid to tell someone "I'll have to get back to you on that" if you need to get
further guidance.
Remember, if you are always acting in compliance with Fair Housing guidelines, you will not have anything to worry about should a tester come your way.
