PUBLIC LAW 109–162—JAN. 5, 2006
119 STAT. 3045
directly relating to domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking, engaged in by a member of a tenant’s household or any guest or other person under the tenant’s control shall not be cause for termination of the tenancy or occupancy rights, if the tenant or immediate member of the tenant’s family is a victim of that domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking; (ii) notwithstanding clause (i), a public housing agency may terminate assistance to any individual who is a tenant or lawful occupant and who engages in criminal acts of physical violence against family members or others, or an owner or manager may bifurcate a lease under this section, in order to evict, remove, or terminate assistance to any individual who is a tenant or lawful occupant and who engages in criminal acts of physical violence against family members or others, without evicting, removing, terminating assistance to, or otherwise penalizing the victim of such violence who is also a tenant or lawful occupant; (iii) nothing in clause (i) may be construed to limit the authority of a public housing agency, owner, or manager, when notified, to honor court orders addressing rights of access to control of the property, including civil protection orders issued to protect the victim and issued to address the distribution or possession of property among the household members in cases where a family breaks up; (iv) nothing in clause (i) limits any otherwise available authority of an owner or manager to evict or the public housing agency to terminate assistance to a tenant for any violation of a lease not premised on the act or acts of violence in question against the tenant or a member of the tenant’s household, provided that the owner, manager, or public housing agency does not subject an individual who is or has been a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking to a more demanding standard than other tenants in determining whether to evict or terminate; (v) nothing in clause (i) may be construed to limit the authority of an owner or manager to evict, or the public housing agency to terminate, assistance to any tenant if the owner, manager, or public housing agency can demonstrate an actual and imminent threat to other tenants or those employed at or providing service to the property if that tenant is not evicted or terminated from assistance; and (vi) nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede any provision of any Federal, State, or local law that provides greater protection than this section for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking.’’; and (D) by adding at the end the following new paragraph: ‘‘(20) PROHIBITED BASIS FOR TERMINATION OF ASSISTANCE.— ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A public housing agency may not terminate assistance to a participant in the voucher program on the basis of an incident or incidents of actual or threatened domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking against that participant. ‘‘(B) CONSTRUAL OF LEASE PROVISIONS.—Criminal activity directly relating to domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking shall not be considered a serious or repeated violation of the lease by the victim or threatened victim of that criminal
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