Legal Assistance to Prevent Evictions Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3305 To establish a grant program to provide legal assistance to eligible tenants at risk of or subject to eviction, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 13, 2020 Mr. BENNET introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To establish a grant program to provide legal assistance to eligible tenants at risk of or subject 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 ‘‘Legal Assistance to 4 Prevent Evictions Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. EVICTIONS ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 7 (1) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT.—The term ‘‘eligible 8 recipient’’ means any nonprofit or governmental en- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Feb 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3305.IS S3305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3305 IS tity that has experience providing no-cost legal as- 1 sistance to low-income individuals. 2 (2) ELIGIBLE TENANT.—The term ‘‘eligible 3 tenant’’ means an individual who has an annual 4 household income of— 5 (A) not more than 135 percent of the Fed- 6 eral poverty guidelines issued by the Secretary 7 of Health and Human Services; or 8 (B) less than 333 percent of the average 9 fair market rent in the county in which the in- 10 dividual resides— 11 (i) in the case of a household com- 12 prised of 1 individual, for an efficiency; 13 and 14 (ii) in the case of a household com- 15 prised of more than 1 individual, for a res- 16 idence in which the number of bedrooms 17 would not require— 18 (I) more than 2 members of the 19 household to share a bedroom; 20 (II) children of different genders 21 to share a bedroom with one another; 22 or 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Feb 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3305.IS S3305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3305 IS (III) a household member with a 1 disability requiring medical equipment 2 to share a bedroom. 3 (3) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ 4 means a census tract that is— 5 (A) outside of a metropolitan statistical 6 area, as designated by the Office of Manage- 7 ment and Budget; or 8 (B)(i) within a metropolitan statistical 9 area, as designated by the Office of Manage- 10 ment and Budget, that is outside of the urban- 11 ized areas of the metropolitan statistical area as 12 designated by the rural-urban commuting area 13 code 1, as determined by the Secretary of Agri- 14 culture; and 15 (ii) outside of tracts with a housing density 16 of more than 64 housing units per square mile 17 located in the rural-urban commuting area code 18 2, as determined by the Secretary of Agri- 19 culture. 20 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 21 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 22 (5) SUBURBAN AREA.—The term ‘‘suburban 23 area’’ means a census tract with a population den- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Feb 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3305.IS S3305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3305 IS sity of less than 2,500 inhabitants per square mile 1 that is not a rural area. 2 (6) URBAN AREA.—The term ‘‘urban area’’ 3 means a census tract with a population density of 4 not less than 2,500 inhabitants per square mile. 5 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 6 a competitive grant program to provide grants to eligible 7 recipients to provide legal assistance, including assistance 8 related to pretrial activities, trial activities, post-trial ac- 9 tivities, and alternative dispute resolution, at no cost to 10 eligible tenants at risk of or subject to eviction. 11 (c) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 12 under this section, an applicant shall submit an applica- 13 tion to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 14 containing such information as the Secretary may reason- 15 ably require, including evidence of the experience of the 16 applicant providing legal assistance in residential eviction 17 matters. 18 (d) POINT SYSTEM FOR PREFERENCE FACTORS.—In 19 awarding grants under this section, the Secretary shall— 20 (1) establish a system that awards points to ap- 21 plicants in accordance with the preference factors 22 described in subsection (e); and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Feb 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3305.IS S3305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3305 IS (2) give priority to applicants with the greatest 1 number of points under the system established under 2 paragraph (1). 3 (e) PREFERENCE FACTORS.—The preference factors 4 for which an applicant shall be awarded points under the 5 system established pursuant to subsection (d)(1) are as 6 follows: 7 (1) EVICTION RATE PREFERENCE.— 8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 9 award points if the applicant will use grant 10 funds awarded under this section to provide 11 services in census tracts with high rates of evic- 12 tion. 13 (B) DETERMINATION.—In making a deter- 14 mination under subparagraph (A), the Sec- 15 retary shall use data determined by the Sec- 16 retary to be the best available, or, if no appro- 17 priate data is available, shall make reasonable 18 inferences to determine the rate of eviction in 19 a census tract. 20 (C) LIMITATIONS.—The Secretary may 21 not— 22 (i) require applicants to provide data 23 on the rates of eviction in the census tract 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Feb 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3305.IS S3305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3305 IS in which the applicant intends to provide 1 services; or 2 (ii) award more points to applicants 3 who provide the data described in clause 4 (i) than to applicants who do not provide 5 that data. 6 (2) CAPACITY PREFERENCE.— 7 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 8 award points if the Secretary determines that 9 the applicant has a greater capacity to produce 10 more favorable outcomes regarding eviction for 11 eligible tenants. 12 (B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In making a de- 13 termination under subparagraph (A), the Sec- 14 retary may consider the applicant’s— 15 (i) past experience in producing favor- 16 able outcomes for households facing evic- 17 tion; 18 (ii) proposed use of grant funds to in- 19 crease staff resources to provide legal as- 20 sistance; 21 (iii) demonstrated past effective use of 22 resources to provide legal assistance; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Feb 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3305.IS S3305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3305 IS (iv) ability to provide services to eligi- 1 ble tenants with limited English pro- 2 ficiency; and 3 (v) ability to effectively communicate 4 with eligible tenants with disabilities. 5 (3) PREFERENCE FOR GOVERNMENT ENTITIES 6 THAT PROMOTE TENANT RIGHTS.— 7 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 8 award points to an applicant that is a govern- 9 mental entity if the applicant has in effect laws 10 or regulations that promote tenant rights. 11 (B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In making a de- 12 termination under subparagraph (A), the Sec- 13 retary— 14 (i) shall consider laws or regulations 15 establishing a tenant’s right to— 16 (I) counsel in evictions cases; 17 (II) withhold rent if a landlord 18 fails to provide essential services to 19 ensure habitability of the premises; 20 (III) deduct appliance repair 21 costs from rent owed; 22 (IV) notice of failure to pay rent 23 or other lease violation with the right 24 to cure; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Feb 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3305.IS S3305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 3305 IS (V) a maximum security deposit 1 equal to 1 month’s rent; and 2 (VI) the expeditious return of 3 any security deposit after terminating 4 a lease; and 5 (ii) may consider, with lesser weight 6 given than the weight given to those rights 7 described in clause (i), laws or regulations 8 establishing a tenant’s right to— 9 (I) advance notice of rent in- 10 creases; 11 (II) advance notice of landlord 12 entry to the property; or 13 (III) adequate time to recover 14 abandoned property after eviction. 15 (C) LIMITATION.—Points awarded under 16 this paragraph shall not result in an applicant 17 governmental entity being awarded a grant 18 that, in the absence of this paragraph, would 19 have been awarded to either an applicant non- 20 profit entity or an applicant governmental enti- 21 ty lacking the legal authority to enact laws or 22 regulations described in this paragraph because 23 the entity is subject to legal restrictions enacted 24 by another governmental entity. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Feb 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3305.IS S3305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 3305 IS (f) RURAL EQUITY.—In awarding grants under this 1 section, the Secretary— 2 (1) shall, to the extent practicable, ensure that 3 the proportion of eligible tenants living in rural 4 areas who will receive legal assistance with grant 5 funds awarded under this section is not less than the 6 overall proportion of eligible tenants who live in 7 rural areas; and 8 (2) may consider geographic diversity and the 9 capacity of an applicant to serve eligible tenants liv- 10 ing in rural areas. 11 (g) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Grant funds re- 12 ceived under this section shall be used to supplement and 13 not supplant other funds used by the grantee to provide 14 the legal assistance described in subsection (b). 15 (h) REPORT.—For each year that an eligible recipient 16 receives grant funds under this section, the eligible recipi- 17 ent shall submit to the Secretary a report that— 18 (1) maintains attorney-client confidentiality and 19 excludes personally identifiable information about el- 20 igible tenants; and 21 (2) contains— 22 (A) the total number of eligible tenants 23 that were provided legal assistance using the 24 grant funds; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Feb 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3305.IS S3305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 3305 IS (B) the estimated number of evictions 1 avoided, delayed, or resolved with other out- 2 comes, such as negotiated settlements, that are 3 more favorable to the eligible tenant than the 4 outcomes that would have been expected in the 5 absence of counsel, and a brief description of 6 the circumstances of each case; 7 (C) the number of eligible tenants that re- 8 ceived legal assistance that reside in a dwelling 9 unit for which any subsidy or assistance for oc- 10 cupancy in the dwelling unit is provided under 11 a program administered by a Federal, State, or 12 local authority; and 13 (D) demographic information about eligible 14 tenants that received legal assistance, including 15 race, national origin, sex, disability status, 16 household income, household size, household fa- 17 milial status, age of the head of household, and 18 whether tenants live in an urban area, subur- 19 ban area, or rural area. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Feb 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3305.IS S3305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS