Rep. Harley Rouda is among the multiple co-sponsors aiming at getting a bill passed that will aid domestic violence survivors. Designated the HR 5184, the bill is popularly called the “Help End Abusive Living Situations” Act of 2019 (the abbreviation reads as “HEALS”). It was Rep. Tom O’Halleran who introduced it back on November 19.
“The HEALS Act of 2019 addresses the shortage of resources for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking,” reads a one-page summary handed out by Rouda’s office. “This bill directs HUD in giving equal consideration to transitional housing, rapid re-housing, and permanent supportive housing projects for survivors, and establishes standards in evaluating the resources available to survivors and survivor-focused programs.”
Despite the eight-page legislation being billed “bipartisan”, only one of the co-sponsors happens to be a Republican. Aside from Rouda, Reps. Debbie Wasserman Shultz, Gwen Moore and Joyce Beatty, also co-sponsored the bill.
“This bipartisan legislation empowers survivors of abusive living situations and provides critical resources needed to escape the cyclical violence that plagues so many United States households,” Rouda said in a news release on Nov. 20. “I thank my colleagues for their work on this issue and am proud to support the thousands of brave Americans who have endured or are currently enduring domestic violence.”
The HEALS Act of 2019 was introduced earlier in late 2017 by Sen. Senator John Cornyn. That bill entailed “the Department of Housing and Urban Development to take specified measures to improve services provided to survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, including by authorizing any defunded transitional housing projects to reapply for funding,” and failed to progress into law.