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In 1994, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in recognition of the severity of the crimes associated with domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The VAWA 1994 bill was a watershed, marking the first comprehensive federal legislative package designed to end violence against women. Over the years, VAWA has been amended to increase safeguards for survivors. Most recently, in 2013, Congress expanded the scope of VAWA's housing protections by, in part, covering more federal housing programs, including the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program.
LIHTC is one of the primary sources of financing for affordable housing in this country. Ensuring compliance with VAWA in LIHTC housing is critical to ensuring that survivors can access and maintain safe and affordable housing. However, due to lack of federal guidance, VAWA implementation by state housing finance agencies (HFAs) and LIHTC housing providers has been largely inconsistent. Despite the lack of federal guidance, LIHTC housing providers are subject to VAWA's mandates and face potential liability for non-compliance.
In response to ongoing federal inaction and in an effort to get a better sense of what was happening around the country, in 2016 and 2018, a coalition of national and state advocacy organizations worked together to craft and distribute to HFAs two surveys on implementing VAWA's housing protections and remedies in the LIHTC program. The survey results have been supplemented by reviews of critical state LIHTC documents. This article highlights the key findings and best practices for HFAs that emerged from the surveys and related research.
This article describes how LIHTC's unique federal oversight sets it apart from other federal housing programs and has created difficulties for VAWA implementation. Despite the difficulties, we show that HFAs can and should take action now to implement VAWA. We also note that the failure of owners/developers to follow VAWA could create liability. We conclude by sharing HFA best practices identified through our surveys and research.
I.Low-Income Housing Tax Credit
In 1986, Congress created LIHTC, a tax credit administered by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the Treasury Department (Treasury). LIHTC is used to create or rehabilitate affordable housing for lower income individuals and families. Nearly all new affordable housing development is funded by LIHTC,1 and LIHTC has been used to construct approximately...