Eviction Prevention Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5298 To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to States and localities to provide the right to counsel in civil actions related to eviction, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 4, 2019 Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. EVANS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. BLUMENAUER, and Ms. JACKSON LEE) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to States and localities to provide the right to counsel in civil actions related to eviction, 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 ‘‘Eviction Prevention 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5298.IH H5298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5298 IH SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR STATES AND UNITS OF GENERAL 1 LOCAL GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE ACCESS 2 TO COUNSEL IN CIVIL ACTIONS RELATED TO 3 EVICTION. 4 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General is au- 5 thorized to make grants to States and units of general 6 local government to provide eligible individuals access to 7 counsel in civil actions related to eviction. 8 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—A State or unit of general local 9 government that receives a grant under this section shall 10 use such funds to hire attorneys in positions that are dedi- 11 cated solely to providing counsel described in subsection 12 (a). 13 (c) APPLICATION.—A State or unit of general local 14 government seeking an application under this section shall 15 submit an application to the Attorney General at such 16 time, in such manner, and containing such information as 17 the Attorney General may reasonably require, including— 18 (1) the rate of eviction for that State or unit 19 of general local government; 20 (2) during the previous year, the number of in- 21 dividuals subject to eviction in that State or unit of 22 general local government who were not represented 23 by an attorney in eviction proceedings; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5298.IH H5298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5298 IH (3) a plan for how the State or unit of general 1 local government will use amounts from a grant 2 under this section to increase access to counsel; and 3 (4) the status with respect of the right to coun- 4 sel in civil actions related to eviction in the State or 5 unit of general local government and, if the State or 6 unit of general local government does not have in ef- 7 fect laws providing a right to counsel, such evidence 8 as the Attorney General may require that is suffi- 9 cient to demonstrate that substantial progress has 10 been made to enact laws providing such a right. 11 (d) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—Subject to the availability 12 of appropriations, a grant under this section shall be in 13 an amount that is not less than $1,000,000, and which 14 amount is determined based on— 15 (1) the rate of eviction in the applicant State 16 or unit of general local government, compared to the 17 national average rate of eviction, as determined by 18 the rates of eviction included with each application 19 under subsection (c); 20 (2) the plan submitted by the applicant State or 21 unit of general local government in accordance with 22 subsection (c)(3); 23 (3) the status of right to counsel in applicant 24 State or unit of general local government; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5298.IH H5298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5298 IH (4) during the previous year, the number of in- 1 dividuals subject to eviction in the applicant State or 2 unit of general local government who were not rep- 3 resented by an attorney in eviction proceedings. 4 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi- 5 nitions shall apply: 6 (1) ACCESS TO COUNSEL.—The term ‘‘access to 7 counsel’’ means full representation by an attorney. 8 (2) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘eligible 9 individual’’ means an individual whose income is less 10 than 125 percent of the Federal poverty level. 11 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the 12 States of the United States, the District of Colum- 13 bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Com- 14 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, 15 the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and any other 16 territory or possession of the United States. 17 (4) UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT.— 18 The term ‘‘unit of general local government’’ means 19 any city, town, township, county, parish, village, or 20 other general purpose political subdivision of a 21 State. 22 (5) RATE OF EVICTION.—The term ‘‘rate of 23 eviction’’ means the number of judgments of eviction 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5298.IH H5298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5298 IH entered in that jurisdiction per capita during the 1 previous fiscal year. 2 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 3 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 4 $125,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025. 5 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR COLLECTION OF EVICTION DATA. 6 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General is au- 7 thorized to make grants to States and units of local gov- 8 ernment to collect and provide to the Attorney General 9 eviction data described in subsection (b). 10 (b) EVICTION DATA DESCRIBED.—The eviction data 11 described in this subsection is the eviction data for the 12 applicable jurisdiction during the most recent 3 years, 13 which shall include the 3-year eviction filing rate, number 14 of eviction filings at a given property, the name of the 15 current owner, the name of the lead plaintiff, the race of 16 the lead plaintiff and defendant, the type of property (sin- 17 gle-family residential, two-family residential, or multi-fam- 18 ily residential), whether the unit’s rent was assisted or 19 subsidized, the number of units, the nature of the eviction, 20 the reason for eviction (including nonpayment of rent and 21 breach of lease), the number of days the tenant is given 22 to vacate, the status of representation of the lead plaintiff 23 and defendant, the outcome of the eviction (including 24 whether the tenant remains in possession, whether an 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5298.IH H5298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 5298 IH order of eviction is officially placed on the record, whether 1 the landlord is ordered to make repairs, and whether the 2 landlord or tenant are ordered to pay any amount of 3 money to the other), the date of any rescission of such 4 eviction, and if an eviction was ordered, how many days 5 from such order until termination of the lease. 6 (c) PUBLICATION OF DATA.—The Attorney General 7 shall make the information reported under subsection (a) 8 publicly available online. 9 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 10 authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of fis- 11 cal years 2021 through 2025. 12 SEC. 4. GAO STUDY. 13 Not later than one year after the date of the enact- 14 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 15 States shall conduct a study and submit a report to Con- 16 gress on evictions in the United States, including an anal- 17 ysis of ways in which the legal system fails to provide suf- 18 ficient protections from eviction for tenants, the rate of 19 representation of tenants and landlords, the effect of full 20 representation on default rates, case outcomes, and evic- 21 tion dockets as compared to cases where the tenant lacks 22 representation or has pro se assistance, and the potential 23 cost savings from providing representation. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5298.IH H5298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS