The federal statute and regulations that govern these programs can be found here: Federal Register :: The Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022: Overview of Applicability to HUD Programs.

The Violence Against Women Act ensures that:

Non-discrimination: It is illegal to deny you admission to or assistance under, or to evict you from, or terminate your participation in, a covered housing program if you or a member of your household is or has been a survivor of VAWA violence/abuse.  You or a member of your household must be otherwise eligible for the program.  In addition, it is illegal to deny you tenancy or occupancy rights (for example, you cannot be evicted) in a covered housing program solely based on criminal activity directly relating to the VAWA violence/abuse.  HUD refers to these protections as VAWA’s “core” housing protections. 

Notification of Occupancy Rights: If you are an applicant or tenant, a covered housing provider must provide you with two HUD-approved documents: (1) Notice of Occupancy Rights under VAWA, and (2) VAWA certification form.  The covered housing provider must provide you these forms at certain specified times. 

Emergency Transfers: You can request an emergency transfer for you and your household in a covered housing program if you: (1) expressly request the transfer; and (2)(a) you reasonably believe there is a threat of imminent harm from further violence if you remain in the same unit; or (2)(b) in the case of sexual assault, the sexual assault occurred at your housing during the 90-calendar-day period preceding the date of the transfer request.  Public housing agencies and other covered housing programs must adopt an emergency transfer plan based on a model plan from HUD.  This emergency transfer plan must, among other requirements, allow you to make an internal emergency transfer (to a unit where you would not be categorized as a new applicant) when a safe unit is immediately available.  A safe unit is a unit that you believe is safe.

Confidentiality Requirements: Covered housing providers have specific obligations to maintain the confidentiality of the fact that a person is a survivor of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.  Any information you provide under VAWA’s housing protections, including the fact that you are a VAWA survivor, must be kept confidential by the covered housing provider.  These obligations include keeping any such information out of a shared database and not disclosing such information to others unless you consent in writing to such disclosure, it is required for use in an eviction proceeding, or the law otherwise requires it.  If your information is used by a covered housing provider in violation of the confidentiality requirements, you may file a complaint with HUD.

Documentation: If you inform a public housing agency or owner or manager of housing assisted under a covered housing program that you are a survivor of VAWA violence/abuse entitled to VAWA protections, the covered housing provider may request, in writing, that you submit documentation of the occurrence of the domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.  If your housing provider simply provides a VAWA reporting form to you, without a dated letter requesting documentation, the housing provider has not sufficiently made the request in writing. You have the discretion to choose which documentation to provide from the list identified in HUD’s VAWA rule, unless there is conflicting information of VAWA violence/abuse.[2]  For example, a housing provider may not require a police report to provide VAWA housing protections (but you may choose to provide one).