Federal

DASH Act

Source: Congress.gov · 53,703 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill provides rental vouchers (housing payment assistance) to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless. It also creates funding programs to build affordable housing, support rural housing, and remove zoning rules that prevent the construction of multi-unit homes in single-family neighborhoods. ##

Who It Affects

- People experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness with very low incomes - Public housing agencies that administer housing assistance - States and local governments - Rural residents and farm laborers - Private nonprofit and faith-based organizations providing supportive services - Jurisdictions (cities and counties) that receive federal housing funding ##

Key Provisions

- The federal government will provide 250,000 rental vouchers (housing payment assistance) in the first year and 400,000 vouchers each year after that to eligible homeless people, with money automatically appropriated each year to cover these costs (Sec. 111(B)(i)(II)). - Public housing agencies must hire service coordinators (case managers) so each person receiving a voucher gets at least 30 minutes of support per week, with $300,000,000 authorized annually to pay for this (Sec. 111(D)(i) and (ii)). - $10,000,000,000 per year is authorized to help states build and preserve affordable rental housing for very low-income and extremely low-income households (Sec. 112(b)(1)). - Jurisdictions cannot receive federal housing grants if they prohibit or discourage duplexes (2-unit homes), accessory dwelling units ("granny flats"), or multifamily housing in single-family areas, among other zoning restrictions (Sec. 114(c)). - States must meet targets to house people experiencing homelessness within specific timeframes or lose 5 percent of their federal highway funding, with further 5 percent reductions if they do not comply within 180 days (Sec. 111(F)(iii)). ##

What Changes

If enacted, this law would: - Create a new federal rental voucher program specifically for people experiencing homelessness, automatically funded each year without requiring Congress to appropriate money separately. - Require public housing agencies to employ case managers to provide supportive services (mental health referrals, substance use disorder treatment, help with enrollments in healthcare programs, education services, and transportation assistance). - Provide $10 billion per year to states for building and preserving affordable rental housing for extremely low-income and very low-income households. - Penalize states that fail to house a minimum percentage of their homeless population by reducing their federal highway funding. - Prevent cities and counties from using certain zoning methods (like banning duplexes or requiring excessive parking) if they want federal housing grants. - Fund rural housing programs, including loans and rental assistance for farm laborers and low-income rural residents. - Require public housing agencies to collect and report data on the demographics and outcomes of people receiving vouchers. ##

Important Definitions

**Experiencing homelessness/homeless** - Living in a place not meant for human habitation, emergency shelter, transitional housing, fleeing domestic violence, or at risk of homelessness (Sec. 111(A)(vi)). **At risk of homelessness** - The definition from the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, modified so that being at risk means having a 50 percent probability (instead of 30 percent) of becoming homeless within 14 days and lacking resources to obtain housing (Sec. 111(A)(i)). **Eligible recipient** - Any individual or family experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness with income less than 50 percent of the area median income (Sec. 111(A)(v)). **Service coordinator** - An employee of a public housing agency who provides case management and referral services to each person receiving a voucher, including intake screening and referrals to outside services (Sec. 111(A)(x)). **Eligible public housing agency** - A public housing agency that has a partnership with a child welfare agency and continuum of care (a coordination structure for homeless services), and submits a plan describing how it will use funding and connect eligible recipients with services (Sec. 111(A)(iv)). **Continuum of care** - A community-wide system for addressing homelessness, as defined in federal regulations (Sec. 111(A)(iii)). **HMIS** - Homeless management information system, a community-wide database for tracking people experiencing homelessness (Sec. 111(A)(vii)). **Capacity-building period** - The 2-year period beginning when the Secretary establishes a formula for allocating funding to public housing agencies (Sec. 111(A)(ii)). ##

Effective Date

Not specified in bill text. One section notes a technical redesignation becomes effective on December 29, 2024 (Sec. 111(b)).

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 680 To provide rental vouchers for the homeless, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 7, 2023 Mr. WYDEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To provide rental vouchers for the homeless, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Decent, Affordable, Safe Housing for All Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘DASH Act’’. 6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7 this Act is as follows: 8 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—HOUSING ASSISTANCE Subtitle A—General Housing Assistance Sec. 111. Rental vouchers for the homeless. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S680.IS S680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 680 IS Sec. 112. Land acquisition and construction. Sec. 113. Modular construction pilot program. Sec. 114. Supporting pro-housing development. Sec. 115. Permanent authorization of appropriations for McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act grants. Subtitle B—Rural Housing Assistance Sec. 121. Rural housing reinvestment. Sec. 122. Permanent establishment of housing preservation and revitalization program. Sec. 123. Eligibility for rural housing vouchers. Sec. 124. Amount of voucher assistance. Sec. 125. Use of available rental assistance. Sec. 126. Funding for multifamily technical improvements. Sec. 127. Plan for preserving affordability of rental projects. TITLE II—REVENUE PROVISIONS Sec. 201. Tax-exempt bond financing requirement. Sec. 202. Increases in State allocations. Sec. 203. Buildings designated to serve extremely low-income households. Sec. 204. Inclusion of Indian areas as difficult development areas for purposes of certain buildings. Sec. 205. Inclusion of rural areas as difficult development areas. Sec. 206. Increase in credit for bond-financed projects designated by housing credit agency. Sec. 207. Repeal of qualified contract option. Sec. 208. Modification and clarification of rights relating to building purchase. Sec. 209. Prohibition of local approval and contribution requirements. Sec. 210. Increase in credit for low-income housing supportive services. Sec. 211. Study of tax incentives for the conversion of commercial property to affordable housing. Sec. 212. Renters credit. Sec. 213. Middle-income housing tax credit. Sec. 214. Neighborhood homes credit. Sec. 215. First-time homebuyer refundable credit. TITLE I—HOUSING ASSISTANCE 1 Subtitle A—General Housing 2 Assistance 3 SEC. 111. RENTAL VOUCHERS FOR THE HOMELESS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8(o) of the United States 5 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) is amended 6 by adding at the end the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S680.IS S680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 680 IS ‘‘(22) RENTAL VOUCHERS FOR THE HOME- 1 LESS.— 2 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 3 ‘‘(i) AT RISK OF HOMELESSNESS.— 4 The term ‘at risk of homelessness’ has the 5 meaning given the term in section 401(1) 6 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assist- 7 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360), except that 8 ‘50 percent’ shall be substituted for ‘30 9 percent’ in subparagraph (A) of that sec- 10 tion. 11 ‘‘(ii) CAPACITY-BUILDING PERIOD.— 12 The term ‘capacity-building period’ means 13 the 2-year period beginning on the date on 14 which the formula is established under 15 subparagraph (E)(ii). 16 ‘‘(iii) CONTINUUM OF CARE.—The 17 term ‘continuum of care’ has the meaning 18 given the term in section 578.3 of title 24, 19 Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc- 20 cessor regulation. 21 ‘‘(iv) ELIGIBLE PUBLIC HOUSING 22 AGENCY.—The term ‘eligible public hous- 23 ing agency’ means a public housing agency 24 that— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S680.IS S680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 680 IS ‘‘(I) administers assistance under 1 this subsection through a contract for 2 annual contributions entered into with 3 the Secretary; 4 ‘‘(II) has a partnership with a 5 public child welfare agency and a con- 6 tinuum of care that— 7 ‘‘(aa) has a system for iden- 8 tifying and referring eligible re- 9 cipients for assistance under this 10 paragraph from the public hous- 11 ing agency, including by pro- 12 viding a written certification that 13 the eligible recipient is eligible to 14 receive the assistance; and 15 ‘‘(bb) will, to the greatest 16 extent practicable, provide or fa- 17 cilitate the provision of sup- 18 portive services to those eligible 19 recipients; and 20 ‘‘(III) submits to the Secretary a 21 statement describing— 22 ‘‘(aa) how the public hous- 23 ing agency will connect eligible 24 recipients with local community 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S680.IS S680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 680 IS resources, to the extent available; 1 and 2 ‘‘(bb) the plan for use of ca- 3 pacity-building funding under 4 subparagraph (E), including— 5 ‘‘(AA) a timeline for 6 the use of that funding with- 7 in the capacity-building pe- 8 riod; 9 ‘‘(BB) hiring and per- 10 sonnel needs; 11 ‘‘(CC) physical infra- 12 structure needs; and 13 ‘‘(DD) technological in- 14 frastructure needs, including 15 upgrades to the HMIS, and 16 any other capacity-related 17 investments that are nec- 18 essary to administer assist- 19 ance under this paragraph. 20 ‘‘(v) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT.—The term 21 ‘eligible recipient’ means any individual or 22 family experiencing homelessness or at risk 23 of homelessness with an income that is less 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S680.IS S680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 680 IS than 50 percent of the area median in- 1 come. 2 ‘‘(vi) EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS; 3 HOMELESS.—The terms ‘experiencing 4 homelessness’ and ‘homeless’ means an in- 5 dividual or family who is— 6 ‘‘(I) living in a place not meant 7 for human habitation or in an emer- 8 gency shelter; 9 ‘‘(II) living in transitional hous- 10 ing for homeless persons and was 11 homeless before entering transitional 12 housing or an emergency shelter; 13 ‘‘(III) fleeing domestic violence; 14 or 15 ‘‘(IV) at risk of homelessness. 16 ‘‘(vii) HMIS.—The term ‘HMIS’ 17 means the community-wide homeless man- 18 agement information system described in 19 section 402(f)(3)(D) of the McKinney- 20 Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 21 11360a(f)(3)(D)). 22 ‘‘(viii) PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCY.— 23 The term ‘public housing agency’ includes 24 a tribally designated housing entity. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S680.IS S680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 680 IS ‘‘(ix) REFERRAL.—The term ‘referral’ 1 means an affirmative connection between 2 the voucher recipient and the organization 3 providing services to the voucher recipient. 4 ‘‘(x) SERVICE COORDINATOR.—The 5 term ‘service coordinator’ means an indi- 6 vidual employed directly by a public hous- 7 ing agency who provides general case man- 8 agement and referral services to each 9 voucher recipient served by the public 10 housing agency, which shall include— 11 ‘‘(I) an individual intake screen- 12 ing of each voucher recipient to evalu- 13 ate the voucher recipient’s need for 14 supportive services; and 15 ‘‘(II) referral to outside services, 16 including cooperation and collabora- 17 tion with a continuum of care. 18 ‘‘(xi) SOURCE OF INCOME.—The term 19 ‘source of income’ means income from any 20 lawful source, including— 21 ‘‘(I) income from any legal em- 22 ployment; and 23 ‘‘(II) any assistance, benefit, or 24 subsidy through any Federal, State, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S680.IS S680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 680 IS or local program, whether the pro- 1 gram is administered by a govern- 2 mental or nongovernmental entity. 3 ‘‘(xii) TRIBALLY DESIGNATED HOUS- 4 ING ENTITY.—The term ‘tribally des- 5 ignated housing entity’ has the meaning 6 given the term in section 4 of the Native 7 American Housing Assistance and Self-De- 8 termination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4103). 9 ‘‘(xiii) VOUCHER RECIPIENT.—The 10 term ‘voucher recipient’ means an indi- 11 vidual or family receiving a voucher under 12 this paragraph. 13 ‘‘(xiv) YOUTH.—The term ‘youth’ 14 means an individual under the age of 25. 15 ‘‘(B) VOUCHERS.— 16 ‘‘(i) PROVISION OF VOUCHERS.— 17 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The Sec- 18 retary shall provide vouchers for rent- 19 al assistance on behalf of each eligible 20 recipient in accordance with this para- 21 graph. 22 ‘‘(II) DIRECT APPROPRIATION.— 23 Subject to subclause (III), there is ap- 24 propriated, out of any money in the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S680.IS S680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 680 IS Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 1 for providing rental voucher assistance 2 under this paragraph for fiscal year 3 2023 and each fiscal year thereafter— 4 ‘‘(aa) the amount necessary 5 to fund the provision of a vouch- 6 er for rental assistance under 7 this paragraph on behalf of each 8 eligible recipient; 9 ‘‘(bb) the amount necessary 10 to provide administrative fees 11 under clause (ii) in connection to 12 each voucher for rental assistance 13 provided under this paragraph; 14 and 15 ‘‘(cc) the amount necessary 16 to fund annual renewals of the 17 vouchers provided under this 18 paragraph. 19 ‘‘(III) NUMBER OF VOUCHERS.— 20 The Secretary shall provide— 21 ‘‘(aa) 250,000 vouchers 22 under this paragraph in fiscal 23 year 2023; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S680.IS S680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •S 680 IS ‘‘(bb) 400,000 vouchers 1 under this paragraph in each fis- 2 cal year thereafter until the Sec- 3 retary determines that a smaller 4 number of vouchers is sufficient 5 to provide all eligible recipients 6 with vouchers. 7 ‘‘(ii) ADMINISTRATIVE FEE FOR AN- 8 CILLARY COSTS.—The Secretary shall pro- 9 vide a public housing agency that requests 10 a voucher under this paragraph an admin- 11 istrative fee sufficient to provide assistance 12 to the voucher recipient for security depos- 13 its, moving costs, first or last month’s 14 rent, or other significant barriers to estab- 15 lishing use of the voucher and a lease, in 16 an amount that is not more than 3 17 months’ rent for the voucher recipient. 18 ‘‘(iii) PAYMENT STANDARD.—The 19 payment standard for a voucher provided 20 under this paragraph may not exceed 125 21 percent of the fair market rental in the ju- 22 risdiction in which the voucher is adminis- 23 tered. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S680.IS S680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •S 680 IS ‘‘(iv) SUPPLEMENTAL VOUCHER PAY- 1 MENT.— 2 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—An eligible 3 public housing agency may supple- 4 ment the amount of a voucher pro- 5 vided under this paragraph in any 6 case in which— 7 ‘‘(aa) the amount of the 8 voucher is insufficient to cover 9 the cost of a dwelling unit within 10 the jurisdiction of the eligible 11 public housing agency and that 12 insufficiency may result in a 13 voucher recipient losing housing 14 and becoming homeless or dou- 15 bled up; or 16 ‘‘(bb) the eligible public 17 housing agency submits to the 18 Secretary a waiver request for re- 19 calculation of the small area fair 20 market rent applicable to the 21 dwelling unit, which the Sec- 22 retary shall approve or deny 23 within 45 days of submission of 24 the request. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S680.IS S680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 •S 680 IS ‘‘(II) PAYMENT UPON DENIAL.— 1 An eligible public housing agency may 2 supplement the amount of a voucher 3 under subclause (I) even if the Sec- 4 retary denies the request submitted 5 under subclause (I)(aa), provided that 6 the supplementation of the voucher 7 amount is necessary to maintain hous- 8 ing for the voucher recipient. 9 ‘‘(v) CONDITIONS ON ASSISTANCE.— 10 Notwithstanding any other provision of 11 law, the Secretary— 12 ‘‘(I) may not condition receipt of 13 a voucher under this paragraph on— 14 ‘‘(aa) participation in any 15 service or program; or 16 ‘‘(bb) the sobriety or lack 17 thereof of an eligible recipient; 18 ‘‘(II) except as provided in sub- 19 clause (III), may not prohibit receipt 20 of a voucher under this paragraph by 21 an otherwise eligible recipient due to 22 any criminal conviction or history of 23 interaction with the criminal justice 24 system; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S680.IS S680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 13 •S 680 IS ‘‘(III) shall prohibit receipt of a 1 voucher under this paragraph by indi- 2 viduals subject to a lifetime registra- 3 tion requirement under any State sex 4 offender registration program. 5 ‘‘(vi) VERIFICATION OF STATEMENT 6 MADE BY ELIGIBLE PUBLIC HOUSING 7 AGENCIES.— 8 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Not later 9 than 30 days after the date on which 10 an eligible public housing agency sub- 11 mits the statement required under 12 subparagraph (A)(iv)(III), the Sec- 13 retary shall verify the statement. 14 ‘‘(II) UNSATISFACTORY STATE- 15 MENT.—If, upon verification of a 16 statement under subclause (I), the 17 Secretary determines that the state- 18 ment is unsatisfactory, the Secretary 19 shall inform the eligible public hous- 20 ing agency of that determination and 21 the manner in which the eligible pub- 22 lic housing agency may re-submit the 23 statement. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Mar 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S680.IS S680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 14 •S 680 IS ‘‘(vii) IDENTIFICATION OF ELIGIBLE 1 RECIPIENTS.—A public housing agency 2 shall partner with continuums of care, 3 public child welfare agencies, street out- 4 reach providers, health care providers, and 5 other similar organizations in the State in 6 which the public housing agency operates 7 to identify eligible recipients. 8 ‘‘(viii) REQUIREMENTS FOR ELIGIBLE 9 PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCIES.— 10 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]

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