Emergency Housing Voucher Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1724 To provide emergency rental assistance vouchers to respond to the COVID– 19 pandemic, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 9, 2021 Ms. WATERS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To provide emergency rental assistance vouchers to respond to the COVID–19 pandemic, 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 Housing 4 Voucher Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. EMERGENCY RENTAL ASSISTANCE VOUCHER PRO- 6 GRAM. 7 (a) APPROPRIATION.—In addition to amounts other- 8 wise made available, out of any money in the Treasury 9 not otherwise appropriated, there is appropriated for an 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:28 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1724.IH H1724 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1724 IH additional amount to the Secretary of Housing and Urban 1 Development (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Sec- 2 retary’’), $5,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2021, to remain 3 available through fiscal year 2030, for— 4 (1) incremental emergency vouchers under sub- 5 section (b); 6 (2) renewals of the vouchers under subsection 7 (b); 8 (3) fees for the costs of administering vouchers 9 under subsection (b) and other eligible expenses de- 10 fined by notice to prevent, prepare, and respond to 11 coronavirus to facilitate the leasing of the emergency 12 vouchers, such as security deposit assistance and 13 other costs related to retention and support of par- 14 ticipating owners; and; 15 (4) adjustments in the calendar year 2021 sec- 16 tion 8 renewal funding allocation, including main- 17 stream vouchers, for public housing agencies that ex- 18 perience a significant increase in voucher per-unit 19 costs due to extraordinary circumstances or that, de- 20 spite taking reasonable cost savings measures, would 21 otherwise be required to terminate rental assistance 22 for families as a result of insufficient funding. 23 (b) EMERGENCY VOUCHERS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:28 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1724.IH H1724 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1724 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 1 emergency rental assistance vouchers under sub- 2 section (a), which shall be tenant-based rental assist- 3 ance under section 8(o) of the United States Hous- 4 ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)). 5 (2) QUALIFYING INDIVIDUALS OR FAMILIES DE- 6 FINED.—For the purposes of this section, qualifying 7 individuals or families are those who are— 8 (A) homeless (as such term is defined in 9 section 103(a) of the McKinney-Vento Home- 10 less Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11302(a)); 11 (B) at risk of homelessness (as such term 12 is defined in section 401(1) of the McKinney- 13 Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 14 11360(1))); 15 (C) fleeing, or attempting to flee, domestic 16 violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalk- 17 ing, or human trafficking; or 18 (D) recently homeless, as determined by 19 the Secretary, and for whom providing rental 20 assistance will prevent the family’s homeless- 21 ness or having high risk of housing instability. 22 (3) ALLOCATION.—Public housing agencies 23 shall be notified of the number of emergency vouch- 24 ers allocated to the agency not later than 60 days 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:28 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1724.IH H1724 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1724 IH after the date of the enactment of this Act, in ac- 1 cordance with a formula that includes public housing 2 agency capacity and ensures geographic diversity, in- 3 cluding with respect to rural areas, among public 4 housing agencies administering the Housing Choice 5 Voucher program. 6 (4) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.— 7 (A) ELECTION TO ADMINISTER.—The Sec- 8 retary shall establish a procedure for public 9 housing agencies to accept or decline the emer- 10 gency vouchers allocated to the agency in ac- 11 cordance with the formula under subparagraph 12 (3). 13 (B) FAILURE TO USE VOUCHERS PROMPT- 14 LY.—If a public housing agency fails to lease 15 its authorized vouchers under subsection (b) on 16 behalf of eligible families within a reasonable 17 period of time, the Secretary may revoke and 18 redistribute any unleased vouchers and associ- 19 ated funds, including administrative fees and 20 costs referred to in subsection (a)(3), to other 21 public housing agencies according to the for- 22 mula under paragraph (3). 23 (5) WAIVERS AND ALTERNATIVE REQUIRE- 24 MENTS.—Any provision of any statute or regulation 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:28 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1724.IH H1724 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1724 IH used to administer the amounts made available 1 under this section (except for requirements related 2 to fair housing, nondiscrimination, labor standards, 3 and the environment), shall be waived upon a find- 4 ing that any such waivers or alternative require- 5 ments are necessary to expedite or facilitate the use 6 of amounts made available in this section. 7 (6) TERMINATION OF VOUCHERS UPON TURN- 8 OVER.—After September 30, 2023, a public housing 9 agency may not reissue any vouchers made available 10 under this section when assistance for the family as- 11 sisted ends. 12 (c) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND OTHER COSTS.— 13 The Secretary may use not more $20,000,000 of the 14 amounts made available under this section for the costs 15 to the Secretary of administering and overseeing the im- 16 plementation of this section and the Housing Choice 17 Voucher program generally, including information tech- 18 nology, financial reporting, and other costs. Of the 19 amounts set aside under this subsection, the Secretary 20 may use not more than $10,000,000, without competition, 21 to make new awards or increase prior awards to existing 22 technical assistance providers to provide an immediate in- 23 crease in capacity building and technical assistance to 24 public housing agencies. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:28 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1724.IH H1724 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1724 IH (d) IMPLEMENTATION.—The provisions of this sec- 1 tion may be implemented by notice. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:28 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1724.IH H1724 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS