An amendment introduced last week to change a city ordinance would clarify protections for victims of domestic violence in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The Bethel City Council will consider adopting an update on its protections for renters.
Eileen Arnold, Executive Director of the Tundra Women's Coalition (TWC), said that renters weren't calling police when they became victims of domestic violence because they thought that they could be evicted if police responded to too many calls at their homes.
“They’ll call us instead of the police,” said Arnold. “You know, women will take a beating instead of risk becoming homeless. That’s the bigger risk.”
Arnold and TWC staff talked with the women who called.
“We spoke to individual renters who seemed to be pointing to the ordinance of the City of Bethel that would allow for this,” said Arnold.
The Tundra Women's Coalition consulted the American Civil Liberties Union and Alaska Legal Services and found that both the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), “exempts victims of domestic violence with the understanding that a person shouldn't have to choose between being victimized and being homeless.” That may be the law, but Arnold said many women renting in Bethel don't know it.
“So even though it’s never been enforced,” said Arnold, “it’s never been really brought to the City of Bethel’s attention that that loophole existed there that allowed for that harm to continue.”
Arnold approached City Attorney Patty Burley, who took a look at city ordinances and drafted the amendment that Mayor Rick Robb introduced at the last week's Bethel City Council meeting on May 23. It's Ordinance 17-27, amending "public nuisance abatement, penalties, and remedies."
Burley said that the amendment also simplifies the language of the law, streamlines the penalty fine structure, and makes it compliant with Alaska Statute.
Arnold is optimistic about the amendment's adoption when it appears on the next regularly scheduled City Council meeting agenda on June 13.