PUBLIC LAW 109–162—JAN. 5, 2006
119 STAT. 3049
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’’; (3) in subsection (l)(5), by inserting after ‘‘other good cause’’ the following: ‘‘, and that an incident or incidents of actual or threatened domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking will not be construed as a serious or repeated violation of the lease by the victim or threatened victim of that violence and will not be good cause for terminating the tenancy or occupancy rights of the victim of such violence’’; (4) in subsection (l)(6), by inserting after ‘‘termination of tenancy’’ the following: ‘‘; except that: (A) criminal activity 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; (B) notwithstanding subparagraph (A), a public housing agency under this section 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; (C) nothing in subparagraph (A) may be construed to limit the authority of a public housing agency, when notified, to honor court orders addressing rights of access to or 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; (D) nothing in subparagraph (A) limits any otherwise available authority of a public housing agency to evict 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 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; (E) nothing in subparagraph (A) may be construed to limit the authority of a public housing agency to terminate the tenancy of any tenant if the 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’s tenancy is not terminated; and (F) 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 (5) by inserting at the end of subsection (t) the following new subsection: ‘‘(u) CERTIFICATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY.— ‘‘(1) CERTIFICATION.— ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A public housing agency responding to subsection (l)(5) and (6) may request that an individual certify via a HUD approved certification form that the
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