Hello and thank you for joining me for today's Tuesday tip which is all about VAWA. Remember the individuals who are protected under the Violence Against Women Act are survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and or stalking and also covered but not specifically noted are survivors of human trafficking.

So make sure that any forms that you are using include the appropriate definition. Also check your tenant selection plan to make sure that that includes the appropriate definition. And despite the acronym, the Violence Against Women Act, it covers people of any gender. The information that you need to be providing is the Notice of Occupancy Rights, the HUD 5380 form, and the certification form, the HUD 5382.

Remember that HUD did recently issue new versions of that, so please make sure you're going to HUD clips and checking to make sure you have the latest versions. These need to be provided whenever anyone is denied, an applicant is denied, when a tenant is undergoing the lease signing, so at admission, when assistance is going to be terminated, when notice of eviction is given,

You can also provide it upon request and must provide it upon request. And how allows you to give it out at other times, that's going to be based on your policy. Some managers will give that out every year as part of the lease signing package or the renewal package, but that is up to your policy.

Other steps, make sure you are posting the Notice of Rights and that certification form, the same forms that you give out. Be sure to explain what VAWA is when you are doing your orientation for your new residence and when you're going through that application process. And be sure to post your emergency transfer plan as well. Make sure that that emergency transfer plan is individual. Don't just take the template plan and post it.


There are spaces that you need to customize for your property. Make sure VAWA transfers are covered in your tenant selection plan as a reason for a transfer. And remember that you can ask for documentation if you need it to confirm eligibility for VAWA protections. You can give a guideline of 14 days by which they need to get that to you, but remember they can also self-certify.

There are some conditions that may limit VAWA protections, but it's very important to stay within these guidelines. You don't want to deny a survivor protection for a reason that is not permitted. If the identified victim is not cooperating to keep the property safe, which means the abuser is being allowed to come back on the property, or if there is an imminent risk

of harm to others. And if there are mutual abuse situations, there are a lot of domestic violence situations that do involve mutual abuse, but you want to be careful with this. Remember you can bifurcate the lease if you needed to remove the abuser while permitting the identified victim or survivor to remain at the property. Never ever deny VAWA protections.

unless you have talked to your attorney about whether that is appropriate to do. Documentation, as with everything that we do, is key. Document everything related to a VAWA situation. Who, what, where, when, why, any delays in information, any extensions that you've given to provide information, anything like that needs to be documented. Police reports, if you have them.

It is important to make sure you protect the confidentiality of your residence and of individuals who have survived domestic violence. All VAWA information must be kept separate from your standard tenant file that contains your recertifications. It needs to be kept in a locked cabinet, in a locked office, and you need to restrict access to that drawer or cabinet.

to those who have a reason to see it. Best practice is not to put names on your apartment buzzers or on mailboxes, just put unit numbers. If somebody is looking to gain access to your building, it's possible that they can do that by saying, I'm Mrs. Smith's nephew and a resident might let them in.

And it's possible that somebody was looking for their victim could look at your mailbox and find a last name and potentially use that to commit further acts later on. You want to make sure you are not releasing any information about your tenants and applicants without express written consent. Make sure that if somebody is asking about someone's application status,

you have permission to speak with that person. And be careful how you phrase that. Saying, she hasn't signed a release for me to speak to you, in some cases, can be just as good as confirming that they're there. So it's better to say, I can't confirm or deny the presence of any individual at our property without written consent. So I'm sorry, but I can't tell you whether not XYZ lives here.

Protecting access includes the old see something, say something rule. If you see something that does not look right, check that out or call the police to have them check it out and talk to your residents about making sure that they are reporting anything that makes them uncomfortable. If they see somebody who's aggressively banging on a door, who's around a window and that makes them uncomfortable, anything like that.

should be reported and if management is not on the property it should be reported to the police. Don't ever advise an unknown person of the presence or location of an individual. Again we talked about the names on buzzers and mailboxes. Do not let anyone you don't personally know you have permission to let in into the building and train your residents. Consider neighborhood watches. They work at some properties

They're not a big hit at others. So if your property would like to do a neighborhood watch, help them set that up. And it's a good idea to proactively advise the police if you know there's a domestic violence situation on property, even if, you know, they haven't been there since yesterday or since a week ago or whatever, or if you have an applicant come in that says, well, you know, it's been a few months since

it happened, it's still a good idea to call the police and let them know that if they get a call related to that type of thing, there is a potential risk of domestic violence. In some cases though, that's going to violate confidentiality. So if you're going to call the police and warn them about something that hasn't happened yet, make sure you have permission to disclose that information.

Pam Kazlauskas (09:19.884)
Resources for VAWA you can find at HUD. You can find the National Domestic Violence Hotline site. It is the hotline for the address. And you can Google for state resources. Many states have excellent websites that talk about the resources and protections that they offer within the state. So go ahead and do a quick search and see what you can find for your state. We'd love to hear from you about what you'd like to see on the next Tuesday Tip.

You are welcome to email me at the email address that's now on your screen. Thank you and we will see you on the next Tuesday Tip.