Violence Against Women
Safe Housing
Survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking face serious barriers to obtain and keep safe housing. Because every woman should have the right to be safe in her own home, Legal Voice has long worked to improve the laws ensuring safety in housing for survivors of violence.
In 2004, we successfully advocated in the Washington State Legislature for a law that allows survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking to terminate their leases early without penalty. We also wrote and helped to pass a law that protects survivors from housing discrimination. Under that law, landlords cannot terminate or refuse to renew a lease, refuse to rent to, or evict a tenant simply because she is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
In the 2009 legislative session, we worked in coalition with key allies to expand the law to provide greater protections for tenants who are victims of sexual assault, unlawful harassment, and/or stalking by their landlords or their landlords' employees. In those situations, the unique landlord/tenant relationship creates a special problem: the perpetrator has a key to the victim's home. The new law allows tenants in those situations to change the locks to their homes. This legislation also provides additional remedies for tenants who are victimized by their landlords.
We began our work on the new law after hearing from women across Washington who had been sexually assaulted or harassed by their landlords. We have followed up on those reports by bringing two lawsuits in Washington on behalf of women who were sexually assaulted or harassed by their landlords.
Read the new law
Women's rights. Nothing less.
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