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34 Clearinghouse Rev. 20 (2000-2001)
Subsidized Housing and the Unique Needs of Domestic Violence Victims

handle is hein.journals/clear34 and id is 22 raw text is: Subsidized Housing and the Unique Needs of Domestic Violence Victims By Susan A. Reif and Lisa J. Krisher The Quality Housing and Work Respon- sibility Act of 1998 revamped our nation's subsidized housing programs.1 As a result, national and local housing providers are struggling to implement numerous pro- gram changes. Nationally the U.S. Depart- ment of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is working to promulgate proposed and final regulations implementing the changes. Locally housing providers are weighing how to exercise the wide-rang- ing discretion that HUD gave them, as they prepare their operational plans for sub- mission to HUD. This major legislative shift creates a unique opportunity for advocates to influence local housing providers as they establish future housing policies. Advocates for victims of domestic violence can use this opportunity to influence providers to ensure that tenant screening criteria con- sider the impact of abuse on victims' rental, credit, and criminal history; that domestic violence victims receive housing prefer- ences; that termination policies do not penalize victims who need to flee to es- cape abuse; that providers adopt portabil- ity policies permitting domestic violence victims to flee abuse; and that victims' ten- ancies are not jeopardized by their abusers' criminal acts.2 In this article we (1) discuss the sub- sidized housing resources available to meet the needs of domestic violence vic- tims for permanent, affordable housing and (2) identify some barriers-and strategies for overcoming these barriers- they face as they seek to access and maintain housing. Throughout this dis- cussion we identify areas in which advo- cates can influence policy determinations by local housing providers to serve more adequately the needs of domestic vio- lence victims.3 I. The Problem Domestic violence continues to be a sig- nificant problem in our society. National estimates of the prevalence of domestic violence vary widely, from 840,000 to 4 million incidents annually, depending on Susan A. Reif is housing attor- ney and Lisa J. Krisher is direc- tor of litigation, Georgia Legal Services Program, 1100 Spring St., Suite 200-A, Atlanta, GA 30309; 404.206.5175; sreif@glsp.org; lkrisher@glsp.org. 1 Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1437 et seq. (original- ly enacted as Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998, Pub. L. No. 105-276, 112 Stat. 2461). 2 Programs funded through the Legal Services Corporation are not prohibited from repre- senting clients in the public housing authority plan process. See Alan W. Houseman, What Can and Cannot Be Done by LSC-Funded Programs in Advocating on the New Housing Bill (Mar. 1, 1999) <www.nhlp.org/lscfund.html>. 3 We use the term domestic violence victim to indicate a person who has only recently left an abusive relationship; and we focus on using housing resources as a tool to help victims of domestic violence become survivors. CLEARINGHOUSE REVIEW I MAY-JUNE 2000

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