Webinar

NFHTA Forum | Violence Against Women Act, Part 1: Understanding Survivors' Experiences
October 19, 2022 | 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT
Online
Description
Rosie Hidalgo, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor on Gender-Based Violence, White House Gender Policy Council
In March 2022, the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022 ("VAWA 2022") was signed into law, which amended and strengthened VAWA's housing protections for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. VAWA 2022 further gave HUD new enforcement authority, beginning October 1, 2022. This forum series will help participants understand key information related to implementing the housing provisions of the VAWA.
This multi-forum series will enrich attendees' understandings related to the dynamics of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking; provide an overview of VAWA 2022's housing provisions that grants HUD new enforcement authority; and highlight common housing scenarios that survivors experience.
The National Fair Housing Academy (NFHTA) hosted a forum that increased participants understanding of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking from the diverse perspectives of survivors. Survivors' experiences with and responses to violence are informed by their backgrounds and unique circumstances. Using first-person narratives, an intersectional lens, and current research on trauma and mental health, the forum established a foundation upon which participants built their own knowledge and cultural competencies when working with survivors. It further offered resources and best practices. Ultimately, forum attendees are better informed and equipped to conduct their work with survivors and to share knowledge and resources with others in their organizations and agencies. Over 1313 fair housing partners joined the conversation.
The follow up forum on this topic, "Violence Against Women Act, Part 2: Legal Protections for Survivors" was held in January 2023.
Overview
- Welcome from moderator, Cashauna Hill, Executive Director at the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center
- Opening remarks by Rosie Hidalgo, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor on Gender-Based Violence, White House Gender Policy Council
- Opening remarks by Demetria McCain, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, HUD
- Opening remarks by Karlo Ng, Director on Gender Based Violence Prevention and Equity, Office of the Secretary, HUD
- Conversation with Pamela Crenshaw, Gender-Based Violence Survivor and Advocate with Lived Experience
- Introduction of panelists:
- Umi Hankins, Training Director, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Victim Services
- Condencia Brade, Managing Director, MBinti Strategies & Strategic Director, National Organization of Sisters of Color Ending Sexual Assault
- Cristina Cortes, Survivor Services Program Manager, Los Angeles City Community Investment for Families Department
- Presentation and discussion by panelists on:
- The trauma that survivors of domestic violence navigate
- The impact of "isms" and ability of survivors to access safe housing
- The context of trauma for survivors of domestic violence and/or sexual assault
- The importance of understanding the needs of individuals experiencing violence
- Question and answer session with the panelists, Karlo Ng, and Hannah Morgan, Trial Attorney at HUD, moderated by Ms. Hill
A video of the forum has been posted on this page, along with a transcript of the conversation and a robust resources list for your continued reference.
Learning Objectives
This multi-forum series consists of two parts. Part 1 focused on the following learning objectives:
- Understanding the basic dynamics of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking using an intersectional lens
- Understanding the unique needs of those experiencing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking and how to support survivors
Audience
This forum is targeted toward HUD-funded fair housing organizations (i.e., FHIP and FHAP professionals), fair housing partners (e.g., legal service providers and civil rights advocates), and others in housing, advocacy, survivor services, mental health services, and law enforcement.
Materials
NFHTA Q&A: Violence Against Women Act, Part 1: Understanding Survivors' Experiences
Date Published: January 2023
This document answers questions frequently asked during the NFHTA October 2022 Forum: Violence Against Women Act, Part 1: Understanding Survivors' Experiences.
NFHTA Video Bites: Violence Against Women Act: Understanding Survivors' Experiences, Episode 1
Date Published: January 2023
This video clip is a segment from the October 2022 NFHTA forum "Violence Against Women Act, Part 1: Understanding Survivors' Experiences". In this clip, Cristina Cortes, Survivor Services Program Manager with the Los Angeles City Community Investment for Families Department, discusses how critical training is for staff, especially those who are new. She goes on to talk about managing a survivor%u2019s expectations by providing updates consistently and regularly. Cristina concludes by emphasizing the importance of maintaining survivors%u2019 records, documentation, and overall confidentiality.
Please note that that this forum clip features information and examples that represent the experiences of the speaker. Comments do not necessarily reflect the policies of HUD.
White House: Fact Sheet: Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
Date Published: March 16, 2022
This White House fact sheet details how VAWA 2022 Reauthorization builds on and strengthens VAWA.
VAWA 2022 Reauthorization: Section-by-Section Summary
Date Published: February 9, 2022
See the summary of Title VI - Safe Homes for Victims on page 7.
Date Published: November 16, 2016
This final rule implements in HUD's regulations the requirements of the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which applies for all victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, regardless of sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation, and which must be applied consistent with all nondiscrimination and fair housing requirements.
Department of Justice (DOJ): Office on Violence Against Women
This DOJ webpage contains linked resources and descriptions of OVW's work.
The National Housing Law Project (NHLP)
The National Housing Law Project (NHLP) provides numerous webinar trainings and resources on the housing provisions of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the Fair Housing Act, and state law housing protections for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
Domestic Violence Counts: 16th Annual Report
Date Published: March 21, 2022
For the sixteenth consecutive year, on September 9, 2021, the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) conducted our Domestic Violence Counts Survey: a one-day, unduplicated count of adults and children seeking domestic violence services in the United States. This annual survey documents the number of people who sought services in a single 24-hour period, as well as the types of services requested, the number of service requests that went unmet due to a lack of resources, and the issues and barriers that domestic violence programs face as they strive to provide services to victims of domestic violence.
Date Published: September 12, 2016
This guidance explains how the growing number of local nuisance and crime-free housing ordinances may subject survivors to discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. While the guidance pre-dates VAWA 2022 and thus is limited to discussion under the Fair Housing Act, it may be helpful to understanding such ordinances for purposes of VAWA 2022's provision protecting people's right to report crime.
VAWA Resources For Multifamily Assisted Housing
HUD's Office of Multifamily Housing Programs website provides links to HUD VAWA forms for survivors and advocates as well as other VAWA-related HUD information and guidance specifically for multifamily housing properties.
Date Published: May 19, 2017
This notice provides guidance to Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) and owners on the requirements of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013: Implementation in HUD Housing Programs, Final Rule, published in the Federal Register on November 16, 2016, (81 Fed. Reg. 80724 (November 16, 2016)) (VAWA Final Rule) with respect to the Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) programs. This notice does not encompass every aspect of the VAWA Final Rule and should be used in conjunction with the VAWA Final Rule.
Date Published: June 30, 2017
This notice provides guidance to owners and management agents (O/As) of HUD multifamily assisted housing on the requirements of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013: Implementation in HUD Housing Programs, Final Rule, published in the Federal Register on November 16, 2016, (81 Fed. Reg. 80724 (November 16, 2016)) (VAWA Final Rule). This notice does not encompass every aspect of the VAWA Final Rule and should be used in conjunction with the VAWA Final Rule.
Calling 911 Shouldn't Lead to an Eviction
Date Published: March 15, 2022
This article authored by Sandra Park, Senior Staff Attorney with ACLU Women's Rights Project, discusses how the reauthorization of the VAWA will help ensure that people who report emergencies don't get evicted as a result.
SILENCED: How Nuisance Ordinances Punish Crime Victims in New York
Date Published: June 2015
This report was issued by the ACLU Women's Rights Project, in partnership with the Social Science Research Council. Published in 2015, this report discusses the growing national trend at that time of local nuisance ordinances, their often-unintended consequences on both individuals and public safety as a whole, and the legal liability municipalities faced when enforcing them. Additionally, the report explores how these ordinances impacted residents in communities across New York where they were implemented and enforced. This report also outlined how nuisance ordinances created consequences for victims of crime, survivors of domestic violence, persons with disabilities, communities of color, and communities as a whole.
Safe Housing Partnerships Website
This website, Safe Housing Partnerships, highlights the Domestic Violence and Housing Technical Assistance Consortium (the Consortium). This project is sponsored under awards from the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Office on Violence Against Women and the Office for Victims of Crime at the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The interagency collaboration established this domestic violence and housing technical assistance consortium to provide national domestic violence and housing training and resource development. Funded by the Consortium, the Safe Housing Partnerships website offers data, research, and resources related to the intersectionality of gender-based violence, housing, and homelessness.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline
Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, the National Domestic Violence Hotline provides essential tools and support to help survivors of domestic violence so they can live their lives free of abuse.
National Network to End Domestic Violence
The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) is dedicated to creating a social, political, and economic environment in which violence against women no longer exists. NNEDV's vision is to make domestic violence a national priority, change the way society responds to domestic violence, and strengthen domestic violence advocacy at every level.
Ujima, Inc.: The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community
Ujima, Inc: The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community is a national, culturally-specific resource center that provides support to and is a voice for the Black Community in response to domestic, sexual, and community violence. Ujima's resource page includes links to webinars on a range of topics, including how culturally specific organizations can engage with their local continuums of care and the intersectionality of racism, domestic violence, and sexual assault.
The National Organization of Sisters of Color Ending Sexual Assault (SCESA)
The National Organization of Sisters of Color Ending Sexual Assault (SCESA) is an advocacy organization dedicated to supporting and advocating for Women of Color and Communities of Color. SCESA's resource page provides links to sexual assault organizations serving survivors in the Asian Pacific Islander, Black/African American, Latina and Native communities. SCESA's purpose is to give voice and develop action strategies that incorporate and address the experiences and realities of Women of Color and Communities of Color.
Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence (API)
The Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence (API) is a national training and technical assistance provider and a clearinghouse on gender violence in Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. API's website provides a collection of resources related to domestic violence, sexual assault, safety planning, and other related topics in Asian and Pacific Islander languages and culturally specific information on a range of advocacy topics.
Esperanza United offers training, technical assistance, and critical resources to help support Latina survivors, families, and communities to gain greater safety, connectedness, and self-sufficiency.
National LGBTQ Institute on Intimate Partner Violence
The Los Angeles LGBT Center has launched the National LGBTQ Institute on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) to deliver training and technical assistance for public and private agencies to provide culturally relevant, survivor-centered LGBTQ IPV intervention and prevention services, including to LGBTQ persons from racially and ethnically diverse communities.
The National Indigenous Women's Resource Center's Tribal Safe Housing Center
The National Indigenous Women's Resource Center's Tribal Safe Housing Center resource page provides culturally rooted resources to support Tribes, Tribal programs, and advocates working to address the intersection of housing instability/homeless and gender-based violence.
Improving Safe Housing Access for Domestic Violence Survivors Through Systems Change
Date Published: September 2021
This study examined an innovative approach employed by Los Angeles County's homeless system to help survivors navigate between housing and homelessness (H/H), coordinated entry (CE), and domestic violence (DV) service systems to access safe housing through the deployment of DV coordinators as systems change agents. Factors contributing to the successes and challenges of the program are examined, along with considerations for program replication.
"Nuisance": How Chronic Nuisance Ordinances Push Residents with Disabilities out of their Homes
Date Published: 2019
An article in the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review on the impact of chronic nuisance ordinances on people with disabilities states that "Individuals with disabilities often require emergency services, such as suicide hotlines, to get assistance with medical issues that result from their disability. Crime-free programs and nuisance Property Ordinances force people with physical or mental disabilities to make an impossible choice between calling 911 and risking eviction or foregoing medical assistance in a crisis."
Silencing Women's Voices: Nuisance Property Laws and Battered Women
Date Published: 2015
This study utilized qualitative data collected from interviews with police, prosecutors, and advocates for survivors of domestic violence in St. Louis from 2010 to 2012. The authors, Gretchen Arnold and Megan Slusser, used the data to examine "how the organizational structures and dynamics within which each group works give rise to different stocks of working knowledge." Further, the study "reveals mechanisms through which law enforcement policies reinforce gender inequality, and illustrates some ways in which gender relations and power come into play in what, on their surface, appear to be gender-neutral laws."
Unpolicing the Urban Poor: Consequences of Third-Party Policing for Inner-City Women
Date Published: 2012
A study conducted of Milwaukee, WI's ordinance concluded that calls about domestic violence were the third most common reason for a nuisance citation. In 83% of cases where landlords received a citation, they evicted or threatened to evict the survivor if they called the police again. Moreover, a tenant living in a black neighborhood was three times more likely to receive a nuisance citation compared to a tenant in a white neighborhood who had also violated the ordinance. This study also found that 261 incidents of domestic violence appeared in 157 citations, which meant that every 4.6 days, a Milwaukee property owner received a citation listing at least one count of domestic violence. Of these domestic violence incidents, 81 percent involved a female victim, 88 percent involved a male perpetrator, showing females were adversely impacted by this law.
Doubly Victimized: Housing Discrimination Against Victims of Domestic Violence
Date Published: 2003
This American University Journal of Gender Social Policy and Law articled written by Leonora M. Lapidus "discussed housing discrimination against victim of domestic violence and potential legal theories and advocacy efforts that can be used to combat it."
Biden-Harris Administration Remarks

Rosie Hidalgo
Special Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor on Gender-Based Violence
White House Gender Policy Council
HUD Leadership Remarks

Demetria McCain
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary
Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, HUD



Umi Hankins
Training Director
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Victim Services
Panelist

Condencia Brade
Managing Director, MBinti Strategies
Strategic Director, National Organization of Sisters of Color Ending Sexual Assault
Panelist

Cristina Cortes
Survivor Services Program Manager
Los Angeles City Community Investment for Families Department
Panelist

Hannah Gordon
Trial Attorney
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of General Counsel - Office of Fair Housing, Compliance
Panelist
About the Forums
Forums are online conversations designed to allow multi-directional interactions between HUD and its FHIP and FHAP partners around emerging fair housing issues regarding processing complaints, conducting investigations, and managing agencies. Topics will evolve based on partner needs and interests.
Disclaimer: The National Fair Housing Forum webinar series provides training by and to HUD partners, including entities and persons participating in HUD's FHAP Program and FHIP Program. The series offers multidirectional idea sharing in real-time. The views offered by speakers and participants do not necessarily reflect HUD's views. Similarly, unless otherwise noted, documents provided as part of the webinar were created and maintained by other public and private organizations and may not reflect HUD's official position. HUD-produced guidance documents, except when based on statutory or regulatory authority or law, do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public in any way. Such guidance documents are intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements under the law or HUD policies. The information is not intended to provide legal advice to any individual or entity. Please refer to relevant laws and regulations and/or your own legal advisor before taking any action based on information appearing on this site or any site to which it may be linked. Some materials have been translated into languages other than English; slight variations may have resulted from the translation.
Tags: Fair Housing NFHTA