NAHMA USDA Update: USDA Publishes Unnumbered Letter on Ensuring Safe Housing for Rural Development Tenants VAWA

December 3, 2020

Dear NAHMA Members,

USDA’s Rural Housing Service recently published Unnumbered Letter: Ensuring Access to Safe Housing for Rural Development Tenants Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. The Unnumbered Letter provides guidance on how to effectively serve the needs of victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking as well as comply with the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA). Specifically, the guidance includes suggestions on how to best ensure that the VAWA protections are available to tenants that need them given concerns of limited staffing levels and capacity to improve victim outcomes. This Unnumbered Letter applies to the Rural Development MFH Section 515 Rural Rental Housing, Section 514/516 Farm Labor Housing, Section 538 Guaranteed Rural Rental Housing, and Section 533 Housing Preservation Grant programs.

Unnumbered Letter: Ensuring Access to Safe Housing and Rural Development Tenants Violence Against Women Reauthorization of 2013 is attached and also available here.