Emergency Tribal Housing Assistance Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1719 To provide homelessness and supportive services assistance for Native Americans to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 9, 2021 Mr. VARGAS (for himself and Ms. WATERS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations A BILL To provide homelessness and supportive services assistance for Native Americans to respond to the COVID-19 pan- demic, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Tribal 4 Housing Assistance Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. HOMELESSNESS ASSISTANCE AND SUPPORTIVE 6 SERVICES PROGRAMS FOR NATIVE AMERI- 7 CANS. 8 (a) APPROPRIATION.—In addition to amounts other- 9 wise made available, out of any money in the Treasury 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:55 May 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1719.IH H1719 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1719 IH not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated for fis- 1 cal year 2021, $750,000,000, to remain available until 2 September 30, 2025, to prevent, prepare for, and respond 3 to coronavirus, for activities and assistance authorized 4 under title I of the Native American Housing Assistance 5 and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (NAHASDA) (25 6 U.S.C. 4111 et seq.), under title VIII of NAHASDA (25 7 U.S.C. 4221 et seq.), and under title I of the Housing 8 and Community Development Act of 1974 with respect to 9 Indian tribes (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.), which amounts 10 shall be made available as follows: 11 (1) HOUSING BLOCK GRANTS.—$455,000,000 12 shall be available for the Native American Housing 13 Block Grants and Native Hawaiian Housing Block 14 Grant programs, as authorized under titles I and 15 VIII of NAHASDA, subject to the following terms 16 and conditions: 17 (A) FORMULA.—Of the amounts made 18 available under this paragraph, $450,000,000 19 shall be for grants under title I of NAHASDA 20 and shall be distributed according to the same 21 funding formula used in fiscal year 2021. 22 (B) NATIVE HAWAIIANS.—Of the amounts 23 made available under this paragraph, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:27 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1719.IH H1719 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1719 IH $5,000,000 shall be for grants under title VIII 1 of NAHASDA. 2 (C) USE.—Amounts made available under 3 this paragraph shall be used by recipients to 4 prevent, prepare for, and respond to 5 coronavirus, including to maintain normal oper- 6 ations and fund eligible affordable housing ac- 7 tivities under NAHASDA during the period 8 that the program is impacted by coronavirus. In 9 addition, amounts made available under sub- 10 paragraph (B) shall be used to provide rental 11 assistance to eligible Native Hawaiian families 12 both on and off the Hawaiian Home Lands. 13 (D) TIMING OF OBLIGATIONS.—Amounts 14 made available under this paragraph shall be 15 used, as necessary, to cover or reimburse allow- 16 able costs to prevent, prepare for, and respond 17 to coronavirus that are incurred by a recipient, 18 including for costs incurred as of January 21, 19 2020. 20 (E) WAIVERS.—Any provision of statute or 21 regulation used to administer amounts made 22 available under this paragraph (except for re- 23 quirements related to fair housing, non- 24 discrimination, labor standards, and the envi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:27 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1719.IH H1719 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1719 IH ronment), shall be waived upon a finding that 1 any such waivers or alternative requirements 2 are necessary to expedite or facilitate the use of 3 amounts made available under this paragraph. 4 (F) UNOBLIGATED AMOUNTS.—Amounts 5 made available under this paragraph which are 6 not accepted, are voluntarily returned, or other- 7 wise recaptured for any reason shall be used to 8 fund grants under paragraph (2). 9 (2) INDIAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK 10 GRANTS.—$280,000,000 shall be available for grants 11 under title I of the Housing and Community Devel- 12 opment Act of 1974, subject to the following terms 13 and conditions: 14 (A) USE.—Amounts made available under 15 this paragraph shall be used, without competi- 16 tion, for emergencies that constitute imminent 17 threats to health and safety and are designed to 18 prevent, prepare for, and respond to 19 coronavirus. 20 (B) PLANNING.—Not to exceed 20 percent 21 of any grant made with funds made available 22 under this paragraph shall be expended for 23 planning and management development and ad- 24 ministration. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:27 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1719.IH H1719 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1719 IH (C) TIMING OF OBLIGATIONS.—Amounts 1 made available under this paragraph shall be 2 used, as necessary, to cover or reimburse allow- 3 able costs to prevent, prepare for, and respond 4 to coronavirus incurred by a recipient, including 5 for costs incurred as of January 21, 2020. 6 (D) INAPPLICABILITY OF PUBLIC SERVICES 7 CAP.—Notwithstanding section 105(a)(8) of the 8 Housing and Community Development Act of 9 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)(8)), there shall be no 10 per centum limitation for the use of funds made 11 available under this paragraph for public serv- 12 ices activities to prevent, prepare for, and re- 13 spond to coronavirus. 14 (E) WAIVERS.—Any provision of any stat- 15 ute or regulation used to administer amounts 16 made available under this paragraph (except for 17 requirements related to fair housing, non- 18 discrimination, labor standards, and the envi- 19 ronment), shall be waived upon a finding that 20 any such waivers or alternative requirements 21 are necessary to expedite or facilitate the use of 22 amounts made available under this paragraph. 23 (3) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—$10,000,000 24 shall be used, without competition, to make new 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:27 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1719.IH H1719 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1719 IH awards or increase prior awards to existing technical 1 assistance providers to provide an immediate in- 2 crease in training and technical assistance to Indian 3 tribes, Indian housing authorities, and tribally des- 4 ignated housing entities for activities under this sec- 5 tion. 6 (4) OTHER COSTS.—$5,000,000 shall be used 7 for the administrative costs to oversee and admin- 8 ister the implementation of this section, and pay for 9 associated information technology, financial report- 10 ing, and other costs. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:27 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1719.IH H1719 khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS