Housing for victims of domestic violence: your VAWA rights

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) protects victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking in housing that a federal program pays for. The building or housing office can't turn you away or evict you because of the abuse. If you already live there, you can ask to move to a safer home.

If you are in danger now, call 911 or one of the hotlines at the end of this page. Anyone who can see your phone or computer may see what you read, so use a safer device if you need to. The U.S. Department of Justice explains what counts as domestic violence.

Which housing is covered?

VAWA's housing rules apply to housing that a federal program helps pay for. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) writes the rules for most of it. HUD's notice lists programs including:

• Public housing, apartments a housing office owns and rents out.
• Vouchers that pay part of your rent. With a regular Housing Choice Voucher, you rent from a landlord you choose. A project-based voucher lowers the rent on one apartment in a particular building.
• Section 8 buildings, privately owned buildings where the government pays part of the rent for some apartments.
• Other housing the federal government helps pay for, including buildings for older adults and for people with disabilities, and shelters and housing for people who are homeless.

The law also covers rural rental housing from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and buildings in the low income housing tax credit program. So a tax credit apartment, a lower-rent apartment in a privately owned building, is covered even if you have no voucher. HUD says you don't need to know the name of your program to ask for protection, and you can ask at any time.

Rural and tax credit buildings follow the same law as HUD housing but may use different forms and details, so ask your building for its VAWA notice and its emergency transfer plan.

Private rentals with no federal assistance are not covered by these rules, and state or local laws may differ, so ask a legal aid office. A private landlord who accepts a voucher is part of a covered program, so VAWA still applies. Our guide to subsidized housing explains the programs.

What protections do you have?

HUD's notice and its VAWA rule give tenants and applicants in covered housing these rights:

• No denial or eviction because you are a survivor. This includes problems that are a direct result of the abuse. HUD's example is noise complaints and property damage caused by the abuse. An applicant's poor rental or credit history or criminal record cannot be used against them if it is a direct result of being a victim.
• No loss of housing for someone else's crime. You cannot be removed because of another person's criminal acts directly related to the abuse against you or your household.
• Confidentiality. What you tell the building or housing office must be kept strictly confidential and not put in a shared database. There are narrow exceptions, such as your written permission, an eviction hearing or other law.
• The abuser can be removed instead. The office may split the lease to remove the abuser without penalizing you. If the person removed was the only one with eligible immigration status, the rest of the household gets time to qualify on its own or find another home. With a voucher or in public housing, HUD's notice gives you 30 calendar days. Other programs give different amounts of time.
• Limits. VAWA does not stop an eviction for lease violations unrelated to the abuse. A narrow exception lets the office remove someone who poses an actual and imminent threat to others when no other step would reduce it. The office cannot hold you to a stricter standard than other tenants.

How do you ask for an emergency transfer?

An emergency transfer is a move to a safer home, either with the same building or housing office or with a different one. Every building or housing office covered by these rules must have an emergency transfer plan, a requirement since June 14, 2017, and must give it to you if you ask. Under the rule and HUD's notice, it works like this:

1. Ask for the transfer. Tell your building or housing office that you are asking for an emergency transfer. Its plan says whether you can ask out loud or must ask in writing. For a written request, HUD has a form, Form HUD-5383, and HUD's model emergency transfer plan shows what a plan looks like.
2. Explain why. You qualify if you reasonably believe you face imminent harm from further violence if you stay. If you are a victim of sexual assault, you also qualify if the assault happened on the premises within the past 90 days.
3. Say it in writing. If you say in writing that you meet one of those tests, the office can't ask you to prove it. It can still ask for proof that the abuse happened, as the next section explains.
4. Expect no guarantee. HUD says a transfer cannot be guaranteed. You can ask even if you owe rent. If no safe home is free right away with the same office, you can also ask for a home run by a different office at the same time.
5. Keep your location private. The office must not tell the person who abused you where your new home is.

The rule also says a plan must describe how a tenant with a voucher can move quickly with that assistance.

What proof can the building or housing office ask for?

The building or housing office may ask for proof of the abuse, but it does not have to. If it does, it must ask in writing and give you at least 14 business days, which do not include weekends and holidays, and it can extend that time. You choose one of these:

1. The federal self-certification form, Form HUD-5382, which you or someone else can fill out for you.
2. A statement signed by you and by an advocate from a victim services group, a lawyer, or a medical or mental health professional who has helped you.
3. A police, court or administrative record, such as a protective order.
4. Your own statement or other evidence, if the office allows it.

If records conflict, such as two household members each claiming to be the victim, the office may require proof from someone other than you, and gives you 30 calendar days. If you miss the deadline for the proof it asked for, the office does not have to apply VAWA protections. The office may extend the deadline, and if you have a disability you can ask for more time as a reasonable accommodation. A legal aid office or an advocate can help you respond.

What about vouchers and moving?

HUD's voucher rules say a housing office may not end assistance because a family moved out, in violation of the lease, to protect a victim. This covers a victim who reasonably believed they were in imminent danger, or who was sexually assaulted on the premises in the past 90 days. If the family has otherwise followed the voucher rules, it may receive a voucher and move to another area. This is called portability. If a family breaks up because of abuse, the housing office must make sure the victim keeps the assistance, under HUD's family break-up rule.

Our guide to the Housing Choice Voucher program explains the rest.

What if the office ignores these rights?

HUD says you can file a complaint with its fair housing office, using its complaint form and explaining in the narrative why you believe your VAWA rights were violated. Retaliation for filing is unlawful. A legal aid office or an advocate can help you decide what to do.

Do some waitlists put survivors first?

Some do. A waitlist is a list you join now for an apartment or voucher that comes free later. Some buildings and housing offices give a preference to survivors, which moves them up the list. Ask each building or housing office whether it has one. VAWA's protections apply whether or not a list has a preference.

Our listings show apartments and waitlists open now, our area-wide waitlists page shows housing offices' voucher and public housing lists, and the qualify check shows which ones fit your household.

Where can you get safe help?

National hotlines can connect you with local shelters, advocates and legal help. HUD's page for survivors lists these:

• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233, text phone for deaf callers 1-800-787-3224, or text the word START to 88788.
• National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673.
• National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline: 1-866-331-9474.
• National Center for Victims of Crime: 1-855-484-2846, call or text.
• StrongHearts Native Helpline: 1-844-762-8483.

For applying to assisted housing, see how to qualify for affordable housing.