Louisiana state lawmakers on Thursday rejected a bill that supporters said would have offered much-needed housing protection to people who have experienced domestic violence. 
The state House of Representatives defeated Senate Bill 233 by a vote of 34-63, according to the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, which joined more than 40 community organizations in supporting it.
Under the bill, referred to as SB 233, someone who has experienced domestic violence by a perpetrator in the same household would be safe from being evicted, the organization said.
Some leases in the state include language that involvement in “any aspect” of domestic violence would result in an eviction, according to the group. Housing advocates had received complaints from women who had experienced domestic violence and faced evictions because of this rental language.
“We are disgusted that 63 Louisiana lawmakers voted against victims and on the side of perpetrators,” Kate Scott, assistant director of the housing organization, said in a statement.
The bill had passed the Louisiana state Senate. Housing advocates who supported the bill said the landlord lobby was responsible for the legislative defeat.
SB 233 would have made it legal for someone who police suspect of domestic violence to be evicted from a rental unit, regardless of whether a formal charge had been filed or there was a conviction, supporters said. The housing group said there is a similar law which lets landlords evict someone who have been charged of a drug crime but not convicted of it.
On its website, the housing group said that people who have experienced domestic violence and who have signed leases might not call police for help for fear of facing eviction. Or if they do call police for help and are evicted, they could face homelessness.
During a one-day domestic violence census, which was conducted on Sept. 15, 2010, the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence reported that 1,117 victims in the state had been served. The state repeatedly ranks high in the number of domestic violence-related homicides of women, the coalition added.
Citing federal statistics from 2007, the coalition said 81 percent of those homicides were committed by a partner or ex-partner.