II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1128

To provide rental assistance under section 8 of the United States Housing

Act of 1937 for victims of domestic violence to enable such victims to relocate.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 31, 1997

Mr. WELLSTONE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

A BILL

To provide rental assistance under section 8 of the United

States Housing Act of 1937 for victims of domestic

violence to enable such victims to relocate.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Domestic Violence Vic5 tims Housing Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

7 In this Act:

8 (1) ABUSE.—The term ‘‘abuse’’ includes any

9 act that constitutes or causes, any attempt to com10 mit, or any threat to commit—
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1 (A) any bodily injury or physical illness,

2 including placing, by physical menace, another

3 in fear of imminent serious bodily injury;

4 (B) any rape, sexual assault, or involun5 tary sexual activity, or any sexual activity with

6 a dependent child;

7 (C) the infliction of false imprisonment or

8 other nonconsensual restraints on liberty of

9 movement;

10 (D) deprivation of medical care, housing,

11 food, or other necessities of life; or

12 (E) mental or psychological abuse, includ13 ing repeated or severe humiliation, intimidation,

14 criticism, acts designed to induce terror, or

15 verbal abuse.

16 (2) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.—The term ‘‘domestic

17 violence’’ means abuse that is committed against an

18 individual by—

19 (A) a spouse or former spouse of the indi20 vidual;

21 (B) an individual who is the biological par22 ent or stepparent of a child of the individual

23 subject to the abuse, who adopted such child, or

24 who is a legal guardian to such a child;
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1 (C) an individual with whom the individual

2 subject to the abuse is or was cohabiting;

3 (D) a current or former romantic, inti4 mate, or sexual partner of the individual; or

5 (E) an individual from whom the individ6 ual subject to the abuse would be eligible for

7 protection under the domestic violence, protec8 tion order, or family laws of the applicable ju9 risdiction.

10 (3) FAMILY VICTIMIZED BY DOMESTIC VIO11 LENCE.—

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘family vic13 timized by domestic violence’’ means a family or

14 household that includes an individual who has

15 been determined under subparagraph (B) to

16 have been subject to domestic violence, but does

17 not include any individual described in para18 graph (3) who committed the domestic violence.

19 The term includes any such family or household

20 in which only a minor or minors are the individ21 ual or individuals who was or were subject to

22 domestic violence only if such family or house23 hold also includes a parent, stepparent, legal

24 guardian, or other responsible caretaker for the

25 child.
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1 (B) DETERMINATION THAT FAMILY OR IN2 DIVIDUAL WAS SUBJECT TO DOMESTIC VIO3 LENCE.—For purposes of subparagraph (A), a

4 determination under this subparagraph is a de5 termination that domestic violence has been

6 committed, which is made by any agency or of7 ficial of a State or unit of general local govern8 ment (including a public housing agency) based

9 upon—

10 (i) information provided by any medi11 cal, legal, counseling, or other clinic, shel12 ter, or other program or entity licensed,

13 recognized, or authorized by the State or

14 unit of general local government to provide

15 services to victims of domestic violence;

16 (ii) information provided by any agen17 cy of the State or unit of general local gov18 ernment that provides or administers the

19 provision of social, legal, or health services;

20 (iii) information provided by any cler21 gy;

22 (iv) information provided by any hos23 pital, clinic, medical facility, or doctor li24 censed or authorized by the State or unit
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1 of general local government to provide

2 medical services;

3 (v) a petition or complaint filed in a

4 court or law or documents or records of ac5 tion of any court or law enforcement agen6 cy, including any record of any protection

7 order, injunction, or temporary or final

8 order issued by civil or criminal courts or

9 any police report; or

10 (vi) any other reliable evidence that

11 domestic violence has occurred.

12 (4) PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCY.—The term

13 ‘‘public housing agency’’ has the meaning given the

14 term in section 3(b) of the United States Housing

15 Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)).

16 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

17 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

18 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the

19 States of the United States, the District of Colum20 bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Com21 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam,

22 the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and any other

23 territory or possession of the United States.

24 (7) UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—

25 The term ‘‘unit of general local government’’ has the
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1 meaning given the term in section 102(a) of the

2 Housing and Community Development Act of 1974

3 (42 U.S.C. 5302(a)).

4 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

5 The budget authority under section 5(c) of the Unit6 ed States Housing Act of 1937 for assistance under sub7 sections (b) and (o) of section 8 of such Act is authorized

8 to be increased by—

9 (1) $50,000,000 on or after October 1, 1997;

10 and

11 (2) such sums as may be necessary on or after

12 October 1, 1998.

13 SEC. 4. USE OF AMOUNTS FOR HOUSING ASSISTANCE FOR

14 VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Amounts available pursuant to

16 section 3 shall be made available by the Secretary of Hous17 ing and Urban Development only to public housing agen18 cies only for use in providing tenant-based rental assist19 ance on behalf of families victimized by domestic violence

20 who have left or who are leaving a residence as a result

21 of the domestic violence.

22 (b) DETERMINATION.—For purposes of subsection

23 (a), a family victimized by domestic violence shall be con24 sidered to have left or to be leaving a residence as a result

25 of domestic violence, if the public housing agency provid-
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1 ing rental assistance under this Act determines that the

2 member of the family who was subject to the domestic vio3 lence reasonably believes that relocation from such resi4 dence will assist in avoiding future domestic violence

5 against such member or another member of the family.

6 (c) ALLOCATION.—Amounts made available pursuant

7 to section 3 shall be allocated by the Secretary to one or

8 more public housing agencies that submit applications to

9 the Secretary that, in the determination of the Secretary,

10 best demonstrate—

11 (1) a need for such assistance; and

12 (2) the ability to use that assistance in accord13 ance with this Act.

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