The transitional housing assistance grants for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking program (transitional housing program) is authorized by 34 U.S.C. § 12351

The Department of Justice Offices Boards and Divisions Office on Violence Against Women awarded a $475,000 Project Grant to Avalon: A Center For Women And Children under the Transitional Housing Assistance for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Stalking, or Sexual Assault (CFDA 16.736) program. The grant will fund transitional housing and related support services for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking in Williamsburg, Virginia through October 2024. Specifically, Avalon Center will provide a minimum of six months and up to two years of transitional housing in communal, clustered, or scattered site configurations. Comprehensive support services will also be offered to empower survivors towards self-sufficiency, including rental assistance, case management, safety planning, childcare, transportation, counseling, job training, legal services, and housing advocacy. The grant aims to move survivors into permanent housing with follow-up support services for up to one year.

The primary purpose of the transitional housing program is to provide aid to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking who are homeless, or in need of transitional housing or other housing assistance, as a result of their victimization, and for whom emergency shelter services or other crisis intervention services are unavailable or insufficient. Homeless means an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and includes an individual who is sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason. The program supports holistic, survivor-centered approaches to providing transitional housing and support services that move individuals into permanent housing and help them secure employment and integrate into a community. Projects must provide: 1) transitional housing and 2) support services (to include follow-up services) to survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Transitional housing models include: communal/shared family living spaces, clustered/individual family CO-located spaces and scattered site/individual family spaces independently located. Projects must offer a minimum of six months and maximum 24 months of housing. Support services can be a wide range of survivor-centered voluntary services focused on empowering survivors towards self-sufficiency, and/or thriving against the unique challenges faced by underserved populations because of geographic location, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, underserved racial and ethnic populations, and populations underserved because of special needs (such as language barriers, disabilities, alienage status, or age). Examples of survivor-centered voluntary support services include: rental and utility assistance, case management, safety planning, childcare, transportation, career counseling, financial and credit counseling, support groups, individual counseling, job training, education attainment, limited legal assistance (e.g., legal services regarding housing, protection orders, and limited immigration matters that affects a victim's ability to obtain housing), and other appropriate services and housing advocacy. Projects are required to maintain a compensated partnership in the community to insure consistent quality of service. Once permanent housing is secured survivor-centered voluntary follow-up services are offered to survivors for a minimum of three months and a maximum of 12 months. The timing for performance of this award is 36 months.