Tribal HUD–VASH Act of 2019

IC 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 257 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 28, 2019 Referred to the Committee on Financial Services AN ACT To provide for rental assistance for homeless or at-risk Indian veterans, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S257.RFH S257 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 S 257 RFH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tribal HUD–VASH 2 Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. RENTAL ASSISTANCE FOR HOMELESS OR AT-RISK 4 INDIAN VETERANS. 5 Section 8(o)(19) of the United States Housing Act 6 of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(19)) is amended by adding 7 at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(D) INDIAN VETERANS HOUSING RENTAL 9 ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.— 10 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this subpara- 11 graph: 12 ‘‘(I) ELIGIBLE INDIAN VET- 13 ERAN.—The term ‘eligible Indian vet- 14 eran’ means an Indian veteran who 15 is— 16 ‘‘(aa) homeless or at risk of 17 homelessness; and 18 ‘‘(bb) living— 19 ‘‘(AA) on or near a res- 20 ervation; or 21 ‘‘(BB) in or near any 22 other Indian area. 23 ‘‘(II) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT.— 24 The term ‘eligible recipient’ means a 25 recipient eligible to receive a grant 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S257.RFH S257 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 S 257 RFH under section 101 of the Native 1 American Housing Assistance and 2 Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 3 U.S.C. 4111). 4 ‘‘(III) INDIAN; INDIAN AREA.— 5 The terms ‘Indian’ and ‘Indian area’ 6 have the meanings given those terms 7 in section 4 of the Native American 8 Housing Assistance and Self-Deter- 9 mination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 10 4103). 11 ‘‘(IV) INDIAN VETERAN.—The 12 term ‘Indian veteran’ means an In- 13 dian who is a veteran. 14 ‘‘(V) PROGRAM.—The term ‘Pro- 15 gram’ means the Tribal HUD–VASH 16 program carried out under clause (ii). 17 ‘‘(VI) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.— 18 The term ‘tribal organization’ has the 19 meaning given the term in section 4 20 of the Indian Self-Determination and 21 Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 22 5304). 23 ‘‘(ii) PROGRAM SPECIFICATIONS.— 24 The Secretary shall use not less than 5 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S257.RFH S257 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 S 257 RFH percent of the amounts made available for 1 rental assistance under this paragraph to 2 carry out a rental assistance and sup- 3 ported housing program, to be known as 4 the ‘Tribal HUD–VASH program’, in con- 5 junction with the Secretary of Veterans Af- 6 fairs, by awarding grants for the benefit of 7 eligible Indian veterans. 8 ‘‘(iii) MODEL.— 9 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Except as 10 provided in subclause (II), the Sec- 11 retary shall model the Program on the 12 rental assistance and supported hous- 13 ing program authorized under sub- 14 paragraph (A) and applicable appro- 15 priations Acts, including administra- 16 tion in conjunction with the Secretary 17 of Veterans Affairs. 18 ‘‘(II) EXCEPTIONS.— 19 ‘‘(aa) SECRETARY OF HOUS- 20 ING AND URBAN DEVELOP- 21 MENT.—After consultation with 22 Indian tribes, eligible recipients, 23 and any other appropriate tribal 24 organizations, the Secretary may 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S257.RFH S257 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 S 257 RFH make necessary and appropriate 1 modifications to facilitate the use 2 of the Program by eligible recipi- 3 ents to serve eligible Indian vet- 4 erans. 5 ‘‘(bb) SECRETARY OF VET- 6 ERANS AFFAIRS.—After consulta- 7 tion with Indian tribes, eligible 8 recipients, and any other appro- 9 priate tribal organizations, the 10 Secretary of Veterans Affairs 11 may make necessary and appro- 12 priate modifications to facilitate 13 the use of the Program by eligi- 14 ble recipients to serve eligible In- 15 dian veterans. 16 ‘‘(iv) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.—The 17 Secretary shall make amounts for rental 18 assistance and associated administrative 19 costs under the Program available in the 20 form of grants to eligible recipients. 21 ‘‘(v) FUNDING CRITERIA.—The Sec- 22 retary shall award grants under the Pro- 23 gram based on— 24 ‘‘(I) need; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S257.RFH S257 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 S 257 RFH ‘‘(II) administrative capacity; and 1 ‘‘(III) any other funding criteria 2 established by the Secretary in a no- 3 tice published in the Federal Register 4 after consulting with the Secretary of 5 Veterans Affairs. 6 ‘‘(vi) ADMINISTRATION.—Grants 7 awarded under the Program shall be ad- 8 ministered in accordance with the Native 9 American Housing Assistance and Self-De- 10 termination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4101 11 et seq.), except that recipients shall— 12 ‘‘(I) submit to the Secretary, in a 13 manner prescribed by the Secretary, 14 reports on the utilization of rental as- 15 sistance provided under the Program; 16 and 17 ‘‘(II) provide to the Secretary in- 18 formation specified by the Secretary 19 to assess the effectiveness of the Pro- 20 gram in serving eligible Indian vet- 21 erans. 22 ‘‘(vii) CONSULTATION.— 23 ‘‘(I) GRANT RECIPIENTS; TRIBAL 24 ORGANIZATIONS.—The Secretary, in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S257.RFH S257 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 S 257 RFH coordination with the Secretary of 1 Veterans Affairs, shall consult with el- 2 igible recipients and any other appro- 3 priate tribal organization on the de- 4 sign of the Program to ensure the ef- 5 fective delivery of rental assistance 6 and supportive services to eligible In- 7 dian veterans under the Program. 8 ‘‘(II) INDIAN HEALTH SERV- 9 ICE.—The Director of the Indian 10 Health Service shall provide any as- 11 sistance requested by the Secretary or 12 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in 13 carrying out the Program. 14 ‘‘(viii) WAIVER.— 15 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Except as 16 provided in subclause (II), the Sec- 17 retary may waive or specify alter- 18 native requirements for any provision 19 of law (including regulations) that the 20 Secretary administers in connection 21 with the use of rental assistance made 22 available under the Program if the 23 Secretary finds that the waiver or al- 24 ternative requirement is necessary for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S257.RFH S257 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 S 257 RFH the effective delivery and administra- 1 tion of rental assistance under the 2 Program to eligible Indian veterans. 3 ‘‘(II) EXCEPTION.—The Sec- 4 retary may not waive or specify alter- 5 native requirements under subclause 6 (I) for any provision of law (including 7 regulations) relating to labor stand- 8 ards or the environment. 9 ‘‘(ix) RENEWAL GRANTS.—The Sec- 10 retary may— 11 ‘‘(I) set aside, from amounts 12 made available for tenant-based rental 13 assistance under this subsection and 14 without regard to the amounts used 15 for new grants under clause (ii), such 16 amounts as may be necessary to 17 award renewal grants to eligible re- 18 cipients that received a grant under 19 the Program in a previous year; and 20 ‘‘(II) specify criteria that an eli- 21 gible recipient must satisfy to receive 22 a renewal grant under subclause (I), 23 including providing data on how the 24 eligible recipient used the amounts of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S257.RFH S257 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 S 257 RFH any grant previously received under 1 the Program. 2 ‘‘(x) REPORTING.— 3 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Not later 4 than 1 year after the date of enact- 5 ment of the Tribal HUD–VASH Act 6 of 2019, and every 5 years thereafter, 7 the Secretary, in coordination with the 8 Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the 9 Director of the Indian Health Service, 10 shall— 11 ‘‘(aa) conduct a review of 12 the implementation of the Pro- 13 gram, including any factors that 14 may have limited its success; and 15 ‘‘(bb) submit a report de- 16 scribing the results of the review 17 under item (aa) to— 18 ‘‘(AA) the Committee 19 on Indian Affairs, the Com- 20 mittee on Banking, Housing, 21 and Urban Affairs, the 22 Committee on Veterans’ Af- 23 fairs, and the Committee on 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S257.RFH S257 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 S 257 RFH Appropriations of the Sen- 1 ate; and 2 ‘‘(BB) the Sub- 3 committee on Indian, Insu- 4 lar and Alaska Native Af- 5 fairs of the Committee on 6 Natural Resources, the 7 Committee on Financial 8 Services, the Committee on 9 Veterans’ Affairs, and the 10 Committee on Appropria- 11 tions of the House of Rep- 12 resentatives. 13 ‘‘(II) ANALYSIS OF HOUSING 14 STOCK LIMITATION.—The Secretary 15 shall include in the initial report sub- 16 mitted under subclause (I) a descrip- 17 tion of— 18 ‘‘(aa) any regulations gov- 19 erning the use of formula current 20 assisted stock (as defined in sec- 21 tion 1000.314 of title 24, Code of 22 Federal Regulations (or any suc- 23 cessor regulation)) within the 24 Program; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S257.RFH S257 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 S 257 RFH ‘‘(bb) the number of recipi- 1 ents of grants under the Pro- 2 gram that have reported the reg- 3 ulations described in item (aa) as 4 a barrier to implementation of 5 the Program; and 6 ‘‘(cc) proposed alternative 7 legislation or regulations devel- 8 oped by the Secretary in con- 9 sultation with recipients of 10 grants under the Program to 11 allow the use of formula current 12 assisted stock within the Pro- 13 gram.’’. 14 Passed the Senate June 27, 2019. Attest: JULIE E. ADAMS, Secretary. VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S257.RFH S257 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS