On August 6, 2013, HUD published a Notice titled The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013): Overview of Applicability to HUD Programs. This notice provides an overview of the applicability to HUD programs of the recently enacted Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. The 2013 law expands the number of HUD programs subject to the statute’s protections beyond HUD’s public housing and Section 8 programs.
The notice highlights key changes made by the statute, lists the HUD programs now covered by the statute, provides an overview of key provisions applicable to HUD programs, and outlines HUD plans to issue rules or guidance on the new law. The notice is not program guidance for any individual HUD program covered by the new law. HUD will issue guidance and/or rules, as may be applicable, for covered programs at a later date. The purpose of the notice is to provide an overview of the VAWA 2013, and update HUD’s program participants to the provisions applicable to HUD programs.
HUD is seeking comments on the Notice, and comments must be submitted to HUD no later than October 7, 2013. Comments may be submitted by regular mail or email through the federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov.
Introduction
On March 7, 2013, President Obama signed into law the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, which reauthorizes and amends the Violence Against Women Act of 1994. VAWA 2013 enhances judicial and law enforcement tools to combat domestic violence, improves services for victims, enhances services, protection, and justice for young victims of violence, strengthens the health care systems’ response to domestic violence, and expands protections for Native American women and immigrants. The provisions of the law applicable to HUD programs are found in Title VI of VAWA 2013.
While the provisions of Section 601 were effective on March 7, 2013, they are not “self-executing.” This means that while the law is in effect, additional guidance and rulemaking will be required to enable and facilitate compliance with the VAWA 2013 provisions.
In addition to HUD’s public housing and Section 8 programs, VAWA 2013 made the following HUD programs subject to the VAWA protections:
- Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly
- This does not include Section 202 Direct Loan Projects that are without Project-Based Section 8 assistance. It also does not apply to Section 202 projects that are coupled with Section 162 Assistance (Project Assistance Contracts or “PAC”) or to the new Senior Preservation Rental Assistance Contracts;
- Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities;
- Housing Opportunities for Persons with Aids (HOPWA) Program;
- HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) program;
- Homeless programs under Title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act;
- FHA Mortgage Insurance for multifamily rental housing under §221(d)(3) of the National Housing Act with a below market interest rate;
- Section 236 Housing; and
- HUD programs assisted under the United States Housing Act of 1937 (Public Housing under §6 and Section 8 projects).
These HUD programs, together with rural housing assistance under certain sections of the Housing Act of 1949 and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program, are the covered housing programs under VAWA 2013.
This Notice compares the requirements of the pre-2013 VAWA requirements to those implemented by the new law. One of the most important elements of the Notice is confirmation that HUD public housing and Section 8 programs should continue to follow the regulations that were in place based on the pre-2013 law, and that HUD will issue new guidance on implementation of the new law. It is also important to note that while VAWA 2013 now applies to Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and Rural Development Service properties, such properties cannot implement the law until guidance is received from the Rural Development Service and IRS.
HUD provided no indication of when guidance will be issued, but gave a deadline of October 7, 2013 for comments to be submitted to HUD on the Notice. This would indicate that there will probably be no formal guidance published by HUD until 2014.