HEALS Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5184 To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to improve services for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking and their families. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 19, 2019 Mr. O’HALLERAN (for himself, Mrs. WAGNER, Ms. MOORE, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, and Mr. ROUDA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to improve services for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking and their fam- ilies. 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 ‘‘Help End Abusive Liv- 4 ing Situations Act’’ or the ‘‘HEALS Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Nov 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5184.IH H5184 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5184 IH (1) the terms ‘‘dating violence’’, ‘‘domestic vio- 1 lence’’, ‘‘sexual assault’’, and ‘‘stalking’’ have the 2 meanings given those terms in section 40002(a) of 3 the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 4 12291(a)); 5 (2) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 6 of Housing and Urban Development; 7 (3) the term ‘‘victim service provider’’ has the 8 meaning given the term in section 401 of the 9 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 10 U.S.C. 11360); and 11 (4) the term ‘‘victim service provider project’’ 12 means a project administered by a victim service 13 provider designed to meet the needs of survivors of 14 domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or 15 stalking and their families. 16 SEC. 3. STRENGTHENING HOUSING RESOURCES PROTEC- 17 TIONS FOR SURVIVORS OF DOMESTIC VIO- 18 LENCE, DATING VIOLENCE, SEXUAL ASSAULT, 19 OR STALKING. 20 (a) NOTICE OF FUNDING AVAILABILITY.—Subtitle C 21 of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance 22 Act (42 U.S.C. 11360 et seq.) is amended— 23 (1) in section 422 (42 U.S.C. 11382)— 24 (A) in subsection (a)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Nov 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5184.IH H5184 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5184 IH (i) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and 1 inserting the following: 2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary’’; and 3 (ii) by adding at the end the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘(2) SCORING.—For purposes of scoring appli- 6 cants in the notice of funding availability, the Sec- 7 retary shall neither prioritize nor deprioritize the fol- 8 lowing categories of projects solely on the basis of 9 the category: 10 ‘‘(A) Rapid re-housing. 11 ‘‘(B) Permanent supportive housing. 12 ‘‘(C) Transitional housing. 13 ‘‘(D) Short-term emergency shelter.’’; and 14 (2) in section 428(d)(2) (42 U.S.C. 15 11386b(d)(2))— 16 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking 17 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 18 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 19 subparagraph (D); and 20 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 21 the following: 22 ‘‘(C) transitional housing for various popu- 23 lations, including, for survivors of domestic vio- 24 lence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalk- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Nov 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5184.IH H5184 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5184 IH ing and their families, projects providing transi- 1 tional or permanent housing that provide trau- 2 ma-informed services, maximize client choice, 3 and address the special needs of those sur- 4 vivors; and’’. 5 (b) STRATEGIC PLAN.—In the next strategic plan re- 6 quired after the date of enactment of this Act under sec- 7 tion 306 of title 5, United States Code, the Secretary shall 8 include as a goal or objective— 9 (1) responding, including allocating appropriate 10 resources, to the housing needs of survivors of do- 11 mestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or 12 stalking and their families; and 13 (2) collaborating with the Office of Violence 14 Against Women of the Department of Justice to en- 15 sure that there is no conflict between the rapid re- 16 housing requirements of that Office and of the De- 17 partment of Housing and Urban Development. 18 (c) EVALUATION.—Not later than 180 days after the 19 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall de- 20 velop— 21 (1) in accordance with the selection criteria 22 under section 427(b)(1) of the McKinney-Vento 23 Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11386a(b)(1)), 24 as amended by section 4, measurable criteria upon 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Nov 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5184.IH H5184 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5184 IH which applicants for a grant under section subtitle 1 C of title IV of that Act (42 U.S.C. 11381 et seq.) 2 are evaluated to demonstrate their local policy prior- 3 ities focused on survivors of domestic violence, dat- 4 ing violence, sexual assault, or stalking and their 5 families, including survivor-centered coordinated 6 entry processes that appropriately assess and 7 prioritize those survivors and take into account the 8 safety and confidentiality needs of those survivors 9 and their families; and 10 (2) mechanisms that promote the provision of 11 technical assistance and support for programs to im- 12 prove outcomes and maintain grant funding. 13 (d) RESEARCH AGENDA.—Not later than 180 days 14 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 15 develop a research agenda that— 16 (1) works and collaborates with the Family Vio- 17 lence Prevention and Services Program of the De- 18 partment of Health and Human Services and the 19 Office of Violence Against Women of the Depart- 20 ment of Justice; and 21 (2) focuses on survivors of domestic violence, 22 dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking and their 23 families, concentrating on the housing modalities 24 that best support them and the mechanisms that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Nov 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5184.IH H5184 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 5184 IH best facilitate their efforts to secure housing, while 1 also paying attention to the critical safety concerns 2 and the link between trauma and residential sta- 3 bility. 4 SEC. 4. INCREASING ACCESS TO SAFE SHELTER FOR SUR- 5 VIVORS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DATING VI- 6 OLENCE, SEXUAL ASSAULT, OR STALKING. 7 Section 427 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assist- 8 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 11386a) is amended— 9 (1) in subsection (b)(1)— 10 (A) in subparagraph (B)(iv)(I), by insert- 11 ing ‘‘, including survivors of domestic violence, 12 dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking and 13 their families’’ after ‘‘subpopulations’’; 14 (B) in subparagraph (C)— 15 (i) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 16 the end; 17 (ii) in clause (iv), by adding ‘‘and’’ at 18 the end; and 19 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 20 lowing: 21 ‘‘(v) meets the safety and trauma 22 needs of survivors of domestic violence, 23 dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Nov 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5184.IH H5184 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 5184 IH and their families, including access to safe 1 shelter;’’; 2 (C) in subparagraph (F)(ii), by striking 3 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 4 (D) by redesignating subparagraph (G) as 5 subparagraph (H); and 6 (E) by inserting after subparagraph (F) 7 the following: 8 ‘‘(G) the extent to which the assistance to 9 be provided within the geographic area will 10 meet the safety and trauma needs of survivors 11 of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual as- 12 sault, or stalking and their families, including 13 access to safe shelter; and’’; and 14 (2) by adding at the end the following: 15 ‘‘(d) EQUAL CONSIDERATION OF TRANSITIONAL 16 HOUSING PROJECTS.—In awarding funds to recipients 17 under this subtitle, the Secretary shall consider transi- 18 tional housing projects on an even basis with any other 19 project of a qualified applicant.’’. 20 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 21 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 22 of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a re- 23 port on— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Nov 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5184.IH H5184 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 5184 IH (1) the trends in allocating resources beginning 1 after the date of enactment of the Homeless Emer- 2 gency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing 3 Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–22; 123 Stat. 1663) 4 to address the housing needs of survivors of domes- 5 tic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalk- 6 ing and their families; and 7 (2) the increase in the effectiveness of those re- 8 sources for promoting self-sufficiency and assisting 9 survivors in finding employment beginning after the 10 date of enactment of this Act. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Nov 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5184.IH H5184 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS