VAWA’s Housing Protections are Still in Effect!

Despite Congress’s failure to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 2018, VAWA housing protections  are still in force .  This includes the VAWA 2013 housing statute (34 U.S.C. 12491) as well as the implementing regulations and administrative notices by HUD ( 81 Fed. Reg. 80,724 (Nov. 16, 2016) ; PIH 2017-08 ; H 2017-05 ) and USDA’s Rural Development Office ( RD AN No. 4814 (1944-N) ) . VAWA’s housing protections do not have sunset provisions and, therefore, did not expire. 

Further, long-term funding for VAWA’s grant programs is not in apparent jeopardy. Both the House and Senate included funding for the grants in their FY 2019 bills despite lack of passage of a reauthorization bill. However, Congress’s reauthorization of these grants is important to ensure that appropriators will include this funding every year with certainty.

Programs with VAWA funding will continue despite the shutdown, but payment requests from programs will be delayed. These delays put significant financial strain on local programs.

Please stay tuned for a webinar hosted by NHLP on VAWA’s housing protections.

For additional information on the ongoing government shutdown, please see the attached memo , which includes an overview on the current status of key federal agencies. Please feel free to circulate this email and memo with those not on the HJN listserv.

For more information, or to request trainings or technical assistance, please contact Karlo Ng at [email protected].

For additional resources, please visit our Protections for Survivors of Domestic and Sexual Violence Page .