House Members Press Treasury, IRS to Issue Guidance on VAWA Protections in Housing Credit Properties
Today, a bipartisan group of 24 members of Congress, led by Representatives Gwen Moore (D-WI) and Claudia Tenney (R-NY), sent U.S. Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen and Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Daniel Werfel a letter urging Treasury and IRS to promulgate guidance providing direction to state Housing Credit agencies and other Housing Credit program participants on the application of protections guaranteed by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) for residents of and applicants for affordable housing financed with the Housing Credit. NCSHA has long pressed Treasury and IRS to develop VAWA guidance for the Housing Credit and worked with Congresswomen Moore’s and Tenney’s offices to encourage members of Congress to sign the letter, which also asks Treasury and IRS to brief congressional staff on their plans to develop this guidance.
VAWA affords certain protections for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking who live in or apply for federal housing programs. For example, survivors of violence covered by VAWA cannot be denied admission, evicted, or have their assistance terminated simply due to the violence and abuse committed against them; may request an emergency transfer for safety reasons or a lease bifurcation to remove the perpetrator from their unit; and cannot be coerced, intimidated, threatened, or retaliated against by housing providers for exercising VAWA protections.
The Housing Credit program has been a VAWA “covered program” since 2013, however, Treasury and IRS have never issued administrative guidance to assist in its implementation. In the intervening years, many Housing Credit agencies have taken steps to implement the law, and NCSHA has published a recommended practice for state agencies to adopt or adapt, but no uniform direction exists, and certain aspects of VAWA compliance remain ambiguous. For example, it is unclear how a state agency should address VAWA noncompliance if it is discovered or whether a survivor of violence in a unit in which the lease is bifurcated should be re-qualified for eligibility purposes as if they were a new tenant.
NCSHA last year sent a letter to Treasury, IRS, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Department of Justice urging the agencies to establish a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to facilitate the implementation of VAWA guidance for the Housing Credit. Those four agencies already are party to an MOU regarding the Fair Housing Act’s application to the Housing Credit, which could serve as a model for an MOU related to VAWA implementation. NCSHA will be making specific suggestions to Treasury and IRS related to the guidance we would like to see on VAWA in our soon-to-be submitted letter on the agencies’ 2024 – 25 Priority Guidance Plan.
