![](media/image1.wmf){width="0.5583333333333333in"
height="0.5493055555555556in"} **U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development**

**Office of Public and Indian Housing**

Special Attention of: Notice: PIH 2006-42

Regional and Field Office Directors of

Public Housing; Section 8 Financial Management Issued: December 27, 2006

Centers; Public Housing Agencies; Regional

Directors; State and Area Coordinators Expires: December 31, 2007

SUBJECT: Violence Against Women and Justice Department Reauthorization
Act 2005

> Form HUD-50066 Certification of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, or
>
> Stalking

1.  [**PURPOSE:**]{.underline} This notice transmits form HUD - 50066,
    Certification of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, or Stalking for
    use in the Public Housing Program, Housing Choice Voucher Program
    (including project-based vouchers), Section 8 Project-Based
    Certificate Program, and Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation Program
    (excluding Mod Rehab SRO), as required by the provisions of Sections
    606 and 607 of the Violence Against Women and Justice Department
    Reauthorization Act of 2005 (VAWA), Public Law 109-162. VAWA
    provides that Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) and Section 8 owners or
    managers may request a tenant to certify that the individual is a
    victim of domestic violence, dating violence or stalking and that
    the incidence(s) of threatened or actual abuse are bona fide in
    determining whether the protections afforded to such individuals
    under VAWA are applicable.

> **2. [APPLICABILITY:]{.underline}** This form HUD - 50066 is for use
> by PHAs administering

the Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher (including project-based
vouchers),

Section 8 Project-based Certificate, and Section 8 Moderate
Rehabilitation

Programs (excluding the McKinney Act Mod Rehab SROs), as well as owners

and managers participating in the aforementioned programs. A
certification form

for use in Section 8 programs administered by the Office of Housing will
be

issued under separate guidance.

# **BACKGROUND:** The Violence Against Women and Justice Department

# Reauthorization Act of 2005 protects tenants and family members of tenants who are victims of domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking from being evicted or terminated from housing assistance based on acts of such violence against them. These provisions apply both to public housing agencies administering public housing and Section 8 programs and to owners renting to families under Section 8 rental assistance programs.

In general, the law provides in part that criminal activity directly
relating to

domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking, engaged in by a member
of a

tenant's household or any guest or other person under the tenant's
control, shall

> not be cause for termination of assistance, tenancy, or occupancy
> rights if the tenant or an immediate member of the tenant's family is
> the victim or threatened victim of that abuse. The law also provides
> that an incident or incidents of actual or threatened domestic
> violence, dating violence, or stalking will not be construed as
> serious or repeated violations of the lease by the victim or
> threatened victim of that violence and will not be "good cause" for
> termination of the assistance, tenancy, or occupancy rights of a
> victim of such violence.

3.  **[CERTIFICATION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DATING VIOLENCE
    OR]{.underline}**

> **[STALKING]{.underline}:** Among other requirements, Sections 606 and
> 607 of VAWA add

certification and confidentiality provisions that allow for PHAs, owners
or

> managers responding to an incident or incidents of actual or
> threatened domestic

violence, dating violence or stalking that may affect a tenant's
participation in the

> housing program to request in writing that an individual complete,
> sign and
>
> submit, within 14 business days of the request, a HUD-approved
> certification
>
> form. On the form, the individual certifies that he/she is a victim of
> domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking, and that the incident
> or incidences in
>
> question are bona fide incidences of such actual or threatened abuse.
> On the certification form, the individual shall provide the name of
> the perpetrator.
>
> In lieu of a certification form, or in addition to the certification
> form, a tenant may provide to PHAs, managers or owners, (1) a Federal,
> State, tribal, territorial, or local police record or court record;
> (2) documentation signed and attested to by an employee, agent or
> volunteer of a victim service provider, an attorney or a medical
> professional, from whom the victim has sought assistance in addressing
> domestic violence, dating violence or stalking, or the effects of
> abuse, in which the professional attests under penalty of perjury (28
> U.S.C. 1746) to the professional's belief that the incident or
> incidents in question are bona fide incidents of abuse, and the victim
> of domestic violence, or stalking has signed or attested to the
> documentation.
>
> An owner or PHA is not required to demand that an individual produce
> official documentation or physical proof of an individual's status as
> a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or
> stalking in order to receive the protections of VAWA. Note that, a
> PHA, owner or manager, at their discretion, may provide assistance to
> an individual based solely upon the individual's statement or other
> corroborating evidence.
>
> The PHA, owner or manager should be mindful that the delivery of the
> certification form to the tenant in response to an incident via mail
> may place the victim at risk, e.g., the abuser may monitor the mail.
> Therefore, PHAs, owners and managers may require that the tenant come
> into the office to pick up the certification form and are encouraged
> to work with tenants to make delivery arrangements that do not place
> the tenant at risk.
>
> If the individual does not provide the form HUD - 50066 or the
> information that may be provided in lieu of the certification by the
> 14th business day or any extension of that date provided by the PHA,
> owner or manager, none of the protections afforded to the victim of
> domestic violence, dating violence or stalking by sections 606 or 607
> will apply. The PHA, owner or manager would therefore be free to
> evict, or to terminate assistance, in the circumstances authorized by
> otherwise applicable law and lease provisions, without regard to the
> amendments made by Sections 606 and 607.

4.  **[DEFINITIONS: The following definitions were incorporated into the
    United States Housing Act and apply to this notice.]{.underline}**

> **[Domestic Violence:]{.underline}** Includes felony or misdemeanor
> crimes of violence

committed by a current or former spouse of the victim, by a person with
whom

the victim share a child in common, by a person who is cohabitated with
or has

cohabited with the victim as a spouse, by a person similarly situated to
a spouse of

the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the
jurisdiction receiving

grant monies, or by any other person against an adult or youth victim
who is

protected from that person's acts under the domestic or family violence
laws of

the jurisdiction.

**[Dating Violence:]{.underline}** Violence committed by a person:

(A) who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or
    intimate nature with the victim; and

(B) where the existence of such a relationship shall be determined based
    on a consideration of the following factors: (i) the length of the
    relationship; (ii) the type of relationship; and (iii) the frequency
    of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.

## 

> **[Stalking]{.underline}**: to follow, pursue, or repeatedly commit
> acts with the intent to kill,
>
> injure**,** harass, or intimidate; or to place under surveillance with
> the intent to kill, injure, harass, or intimidate another person; and
> in the course of, or as a result of, such following, pursuit,
> surveillance, or repeatedly committed acts, to place a person in
> reasonable fear of the death of, or serious bodily injury to, or to
> cause substantial emotional harm to (i) that person; (ii) a member of
> the immediate family of that person; or (iii) the spouse or intimate
> partner of that person**.**

**[Immediate Family Member:]{.underline}** a spouse, parent, brother or
sister, or child of the

> person, or an individual to whom that person stands in loco parentis
> (in place of a parent); or any other person living in the household of
> that person and related to that person by blood or marriage.

**6. [NOTICE AND CONFIDENTIALITY:]{.underline}** VAWA requires that
PHAs, must notify

> tenants of their rights under VAWA, which includes the existence of
> the attached HUD form and the right to confidentiality and limits
> thereof. In doing so, PHAs may make the certification form available
> to all eligible families at the time of admission. Also, in the event
> of a termination or start of an eviction proceeding, PHAs may enclose
> the form with the appropriate notice and direct the family to
> complete, sign and return the form (if applicable) by a specified
> date. PHAs could also include language discussing the VAWA protections
> in the termination/eviction notice and request that a tenant come into
> the office to pick up the form if the tenant believes the VAWA
> protections apply.
>
> All information provided to a PHA, manager or an owner relating to the
> incident(s) of domestic violence, including the fact that an
> individual is a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, or
> stalking, must be retained in confidence by the PHA or owner, and must
> neither be entered into any shared database nor provided to a related
> entity, except to the extent that the disclosure is (i) requested or
> consented by the individual in writing; (ii) required for use in an
> eviction proceeding or termination of assistance; or, (iii) otherwise
> required by applicable law. The HUD-approved certification form
> provides notice to the tenant of the confidentiality of the form and
> the limits thereof.
>
> PHAs must also notify owners and managers of their rights and
> obligation under VAWA. PHAs, owners and managers are encouraged to
> access VAWA via the
>
> Internet at the following Website addresses:
> http:www.gpoaccess.gov/plaws/index.html or
> <http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d1099/d109laws.html> and search for Public
> Law
>
> 109-162 to access the text of the final law. The VAWA technical
> corrections bill (Public Law 109-271), was signed into law on August
> 12, 2006, and may be reviewed via an Internet link on Thomas (the
> Library of Congress Website, located at <http://thomas.loc.gov/>).

7.  **[PAPERWORK REDUCTION]{.underline}**

> The information collection requirements contained in this notice have
> been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the
> Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3520) and assigned OMB
> control number 2577-0249. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction
> Act, HUD may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to
> respond to, a collection of information unless the collection displays
> a currently valid OMB control number.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_/s/\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Orlando J. Cabrera, Assistant Secretary

for Public and Indian Housing