I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3752
To provide housing assistance to domestic violence victims.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 13, 2002
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. CONYERS,
Mr. FRANK, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mr.
MCGOVERN, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr. HONDA,
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. WAXMAN, Ms.
SLAUGHTER, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. GEORGE
MILLER of California, Ms. PELOSI, Mrs. LOWEY, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. THOMP-
SON of Mississippi, Mr. FROST, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr.
SANDLIN, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. SKEL-
TON, Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. OWENS, Mrs.
JONES of Ohio, Ms. NORTON, Mr. FILNER, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. THUR-
MAN, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. NADLER, Mr. EVANS, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. ROTH-
MAN, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon, Ms.
BALDWIN, 
Mr. 
CLEMENT, 
Ms. 
LEE, 
Mr. 
JEFFERSON, 
Mrs.
CHRISTENSEN, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. BOSWELL, Ms. WATERS, Ms. BERK-
LEY, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. REYES, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE
JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. HOLT, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. OLVER, Ms. MCKIN-
NEY, Ms. SANCHEZ, Ms. HART, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. BROWN of Florida,
Ms. DELAURO, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. BONIOR, Mr.
ENGEL, Mr. STARK, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. BORSKI, Mr. HASTINGS of Flor-
ida, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr.
MATSUI, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Ms.
MCCARTHY of Missouri, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. BAIRD, Mr.
WU, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. RUSH, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. KILDEE, Mr.
SPRATT, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Mr. HOYER, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr.
FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. WEXLER, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms.
LOFGREN, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. FORD, and Mr. CLAY)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Fi-
nancial Services
A BILL
To provide housing assistance to domestic violence victims.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Domestic Violence and
Sexual Assault Victims’ Housing Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds as follows:
(1) Victims of rape, incest, and other forms of
sexual assault are frequently forced suddenly from
their own homes for safety reasons. Such victims
have included women desperately trying to protect
their children from continued sexual abuse by other
family members, women attending college who are
pressured to leave school following a rape, young
women being sold into prostitution by their fathers
or husbands, women who are undocumented aliens
feeling trapped and living in fear of being deported
if they seek help, women being afraid to return to
apartment buildings where they have been raped,
and teenagers running away from home to escape in-
cest.
(2) All of these women and children, and many
more in similar situations, would greatly benefit
from making available transitional housing that of-
fers immediate safety and connections to other ap-
propriate services. Without such housing, they are
often left in dangerous circumstances or left home-
less and subject to additional victimization.
(3) Housing can prevent domestic violence and
mitigate its effects. The connection between domes-
tic violence and housing is overwhelming. Of all
homeless women and children, 50 percent are fleeing
domestic violence.
(4) Among cities surveyed, 44 percent identified
domestic violence as a primary cause of homeless-
ness.
(5) Women’s poverty levels aggravate the prob-
lems of homelessness and domestic violence. Two out
of three poor adults are women. Female-headed
households are six times poorer than male-headed
households. In 1996, of the 7,700,000 poor families
in the country, 4,100,000 of them were single fe-
male-headed households. In addition, 5,100,000 poor
women who are not in families are poor.
(6) Almost 50 percent of the women who re-
ceive Temporary Assistance to Needy Families funds
cite domestic violence as a factor in the need for as-
sistance.
(7) Many women who flee violence are forced to
return to their abusers because of inadequate shelter
or lack of money. Even if they leave their abusers
to go to a shelter, they often return home because
the isolation from familiar surroundings, friends,
and neighborhood resources makes them feel even
more vulnerable. Shelters and transitional housing
facilities are often located far from a domestic vio-
lence victim’s neighborhood. While this placement
may be deliberate to protect domestic violence vic-
tims from their abusers, it can also be intimidating
and alienating for a woman to leave her home, com-
munity, cultural support system, and all that she
knows for shelter way across town. Thus, women of
color and immigrant women are less likely to become
shelter residents.
(8) Women who do leave their abusers lack ade-
quate emergency shelter options. The overall number
of emergency shelter beds for homeless people is es-
timated to have decreased by an average of 3 per-
cent in 1997 while requests for shelter increased on
the average by 3 percent. Emergency shelters strug-
gle to meet the increased need for services with
about 32 percent of the requests for shelter by
homeless families going unmet. In fact 88 percent of
cities reported having to turn away homeless families
from emergency shelters due to inadequate resources
for services.
(9) Battered women and their children comprise
an increasing proportion of the emergency shelter
population.
(10) A stable, sustainable home base is crucial
for women who have left situations of domestic vio-
lence and are learning new job skills, participating
in educational programs, working full-time jobs, or
searching for adequate child care in order to gain
self-sufficiency. Transitional housing resources and
services provide a continuum between emergency
shelter provision and independent living.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
The amount authorized to be appropriated under sec-
tion 429(a) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance
Act (42 U.S.C. 11389(a)) shall be increased by
$50,000,000 for fiscal year 2003 and by such sums as
may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2004 through
2007.
SEC. 4. USE OF AMOUNTS FOR HOUSING ASSISTANCE FOR
VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, STALKING,
OR ADULT OR CHILD SEXUAL ASSAULT.
(a) HOUSING ASSISTANCE.—Any additional amounts
made available, pursuant to section 3 of this Act, under
section 429 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance
Act (42 U.S.C. 11389) shall be available to the Secretary
only to provide assistance to qualified organizations for
the purpose of providing, on behalf only of eligible individ-
uals or families (as provided under subsection (b))—
(1) supportive housing (as such term is defined
in section 422 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless As-
sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11382));
(2) tenant-based rental assistance;
(3) financial assistance for a security deposit,
first month’s rent, or ongoing rental assistance; or
(4) project-based transitional housing, except
that such assistance may be used only to cover ex-
penses of renovation, repair, conversion and oper-
ation of such housing.
(b) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES.—An eli-
gible individual or family under this subsection is an indi-
vidual or family that meets both of the following require-
ments:
(1) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, STALKING, OR SEX-
UAL ASSAULT.—The individual or family has been
SEC. 6. ALLOCATION.
(a) COMPETITION.—Amounts made available pursu-
ant to this Act shall be allocated by the Secretary, among
qualified organizations that submit applications to the
Secretary, under a national competition based on dem-
onstrated need for such assistance, including the extent
of service provided to underserved populations (as such
term is defined in section 2003 of the Omnibus Crime
Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796gg–
2)) and the ability to undertake and carry out a program
under this Act, as the Secretary shall determine.
(b) SET ASIDE FOR INDIAN TRIBES.—Of the total
funds appropriated pursuant to section 3 for any of the
enumerated fiscal years, at least 10 percent shall be used
for grants to Indian tribes or Indian tribal organizations
that provide emergency shelter, transitional housing, or
permanent housing or supportive services to individuals or
families victimized by domestic violence, stalking, or adult
or child sexual assault. Indian tribes or Indian tribal orga-
nizations that receive such grants may apply for and re-
ceive other grants from the total funds appropriated under
this Act. All other grants awarded shall go to qualified
organizations.
(c) REALLOTMENT.—If, at the end of the 6th month
of any fiscal year for which sums are appropriated pursu-
ant to section 3, the total amount appropriated has not
been obligated under subsection (a) to qualified organiza-
tions for purposes under such subsection, the Secretary
shall reallot the remaining amount to qualified organiza-
tions that are eligible for funding under subtitle C of title
IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42
U.S.C. 11381–11389) for use for the purposes under such
subtitle. Funds made available by the Secretary through
reallotment under the preceding sentence shall remain
available for expenditure until the end of the fiscal year
following the fiscal year in which such funds become avail-
able for reallotment.
SEC. 7. APPLICANT REQUIREMENTS.
The Secretary shall provide for qualified organiza-
tions to apply for assistance under this Act and shall re-
quire that such an application shall—
(1) contain such certifications as the Secretary
shall require to ensure that—
(A) the applicant organization, to the ex-
tent practicable, has entered into cooperative
agreements or memoranda of understanding
with homeless coalitions, public housing au-
thorities, and community-based agencies that
represent underserved populations to establish
procedures for facilitating referrals to transi-
tional housing and for implementing tenant-
based housing assistance programs; and
(B) any construction or physical improve-
ments carried out with assistance amounts
under this Act will comply with any applicable
housing, safety, and licensing codes, laws, or
regulations of the State or local government in
which the structure is located; and
(2) describe how the services to be provided
with assistance under this Act will assist victims of
domestic violence in obtaining permanent housing.
SEC. 8. CONFIDENTIALITY.
A qualified organization may not be provided assist-
ance under this Act unless the organization agrees to en-
sure the confidentiality of—
(1) the names of individuals and their depend-
ents assisted with services or in facilities funded, in
whole or in part, with such amounts; and
(2) any other information regarding such indi-
viduals and dependents,
except to the extent such information is otherwise required
by law to be disclosed.
SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act:
(1) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.—The term ‘‘domestic
violence’’ includes acts or threats of violence or ex-
treme cruelty (as such term is referred to in section
216 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1186a)), not including acts of self-defense,
committed by a current or former spouse of the vic-
tim, by a person with whom the victim has a child
in common, by a person who is cohabiting with or
has cohabited with the victim, by a person who is or
has been in a continuing social relationship of a ro-
mantic or intimate nature with the victim, by a per-
son similarly situated to a spouse of the victim
under the domestic or family violence laws of the
jurisdiction, or by any other person against a victim
who is protected from that person’s acts under the
domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction.
(2) FAMILY
VICTIMIZED
BY
DOMESTIC
VIO-
LENCE, STALKING, OR ADULT OR CHILD SEXUAL AS-
SAULT.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘family vic-
timized by domestic violence, stalking, or adult
or child sexual assault’’ means a family or
household that includes an individual who has
been determined under subparagraph (B) to
have been a victim of domestic violence, stalk-
ing, or adult or child sexual assault, but does
not include any individual described in para-
graph (1), (2), or (3) who committed the do-
mestic violence, sexual assault, or adult or child
sexual assault. The term includes any such fam-
ily or household in which only a minor or mi-
nors are the individual or individuals who was
or were a victim of domestic violence, stalking,
or sexual assault only if such family or house-
hold also includes a parent, stepparent, legal
guardian, or other responsible caretaker for the
child.
(B) DETERMINATION THAT FAMILY OR IN-
DIVIDUAL
WAS
A
VICTIM
OF
DOMESTIC
VIO-
LENCE, STALKING, OR ADULT OR CHILD SEX-
UAL ASSAULT.—For purposes of subparagraph
(A), a determination under this subparagraph is
a determination that domestic violence, stalk-
ing, or adult or child sexual assault has been
committed, which is made by any agency or of-
ficial of a State, Indian tribe, tribal organiza-
tion, or unit of general local government based
upon—
(i) information provided by any med-
ical, legal, counseling, or other clinic, shel-
ter, sexual assault program or other pro-
gram or entity licensed, recognized, or au-
thorized by the State, Indian tribe, tribal
organization, or unit of general local gov-
ernment to provide services to victims of
domestic violence, stalking, or adult or
child sexual assault;
(ii) information provided by any agen-
cy of the State, Indian tribe, tribal organi-
zation, unit of general local government, or
qualified organization that provides or ad-
ministers the provision of social, medical,
legal, or health services;
(iii) information provided by any cler-
gy;
(iv) information provided by any hos-
pital, clinic, medical facility, or doctor li-
censed or authorized by the State, Indian
tribe, tribal organization, or unit of general
local government to provide medical serv-
ices;
(v) a petition, application, or com-
plaint filed in any State, Federal, or tribal
court or administrative agency, documents
or records of action or decision of any