Emergency Rental Assistance and Rental Market Stabilization Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3685 To provide emergency rental assistance under the Emergency Solutions Grants program of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in response to the public health emergency resulting from the coronavirus, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 12, 2020 Mr. BROWN (for himself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. SCHATZ, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. WARREN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. SMITH, Mr. REED, Mr. WYDEN, Ms. BALDWIN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. MERKLEY, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. MARKEY, Ms. HASSAN, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. BOOKER, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. LEAHY, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. BENNET, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. HEINRICH, and Ms. DUCKWORTH) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Bank- ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To provide emergency rental assistance under the Emergency Solutions Grants program of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in response to the public health emergency resulting from the coronavirus, 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 21:14 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3685.IS S3685 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3685 IS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Rental As- 2 sistance and Rental Market Stabilization Act of 2020’’. 3 SEC. 2. EMERGENCY RENTAL ASSISTANCE. 4 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 5 appropriated to the Secretary of Housing and Urban De- 6 velopment (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’), 7 out of amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appro- 8 priated, $100,000,000,000 for grants under the Emer- 9 gency Solutions Grants program under subtitle B of title 10 IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 11 U.S.C. 11371 et seq.) for fiscal year 2020, to remain 12 available until expended (subject to subsections (d) and 13 (n) of this section), to be used for providing rental assist- 14 ance in accordance with section 415(a)(4) of such Act (42 15 U.S.C. 11374(a)(4)) and this section. 16 (b) DEFINITION OF AT RISK OF HOMELESSNESS.— 17 Notwithstanding section 401(1) of the McKinney-Vento 18 Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360(1)), for pur- 19 poses of assistance made available with amounts made 20 available pursuant to subsection (a), the term ‘‘at risk of 21 homelessness’’ means, with respect to an individual or 22 family, that the individual or family— 23 (1) has an income below 80 percent of the me- 24 dian income for the area as determined by the Sec- 25 retary; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3685.IS S3685 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3685 IS (2) has an inability to attain or maintain hous- 1 ing stability or has insufficient resources to pay for 2 rent or utilities due to financial hardships. 3 (c) INCOME TARGETING AND CALCULATION.—For 4 purposes of assistance made available with amounts made 5 available pursuant to subsection (a)— 6 (1) each grantee of such amounts shall use— 7 (A) not less than 40 percent of the 8 amounts received only for providing assistance 9 for individuals or families experiencing home- 10 lessness or at risk of homelessness who have in- 11 comes not exceeding 30 percent of the median 12 income for the area as determined by the Sec- 13 retary; 14 (B) not less than 70 percent of the 15 amounts received only for providing assistance 16 for individuals or families experiencing home- 17 lessness or at risk of homelessness who have in- 18 comes not exceeding 50 percent of the median 19 income for the area as determined by the Sec- 20 retary; and 21 (C) the remainder of the amounts received 22 only for providing assistance to individuals or 23 families experiencing homelessness or at risk of 24 homelessness who have incomes not exceeding 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3685.IS S3685 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3685 IS 80 percent of the median income for the rel- 1 evant geographic area as determined by the 2 Secretary, except that if a grantee demonstrates 3 to the satisfaction of the Secretary that the 4 population in the geographic area served by the 5 grantee having such incomes is sufficiently 6 being served with respect to activities eligible 7 for funding with such amounts, such grantee 8 may establish a higher percentage limit for pur- 9 poses of subsection (b)(1), which shall not in 10 any case exceed 120 percent of the area median 11 income; and 12 (2) in determining the income of a household— 13 (A) the calculation of income performed at 14 the time of application for such assistance shall 15 consider only income that the household is cur- 16 rently receiving at such time and any income 17 recently terminated shall not be included; 18 (B) the calculation of income performed 19 with respect to households receiving ongoing as- 20 sistance (such as medium-term rental assist- 21 ance) 3 months after initial receipt of assist- 22 ance shall consider only the income that the 23 household is receiving at the time of such re- 24 view; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3685.IS S3685 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3685 IS (C) the calculation of income performed 1 with respect to households receiving assistance 2 for arrearages shall consider only the income 3 that the household was receiving at the time 4 such arrearages were incurred. 5 (d) 3-YEAR AVAILABILITY.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each grantee of amounts 7 made available pursuant to subsection (a) shall— 8 (A) expend not less than 60 percent of 9 such grant amounts within 2 years of the date 10 that such funds became available to the grantee 11 for obligation; and 12 (B) expend 100 percent of such grant 13 amounts within 3 years of such date. 14 (2) REALLOCATION AFTER 2 YEARS.—The Sec- 15 retary may recapture any amounts not obligated in 16 compliance with paragraph (1)(A) and reallocate 17 such amounts to grantees in compliance with the 18 formula referred to in subsection (h)(1)(A). 19 (3) RESCISSION AND REALLOCATION OF 20 FUNDS.—Any amounts made available pursuant to 21 subsection (a) that are not expended by a grantee to 22 provide assistance in accordance with this section by 23 the deadline under paragraph (1)(B) shall be reallo- 24 cated by the Secretary as follows: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3685.IS S3685 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3685 IS (A) 65 percent shall be transferred and 1 credited to the Housing Trust Fund established 2 under section 1338 of the Federal Housing En- 3 terprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act 4 of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 4568). 5 (B) 35 percent shall be transferred or 6 credited to the Capital Magnet Fund estab- 7 lished under section 1339 of the Federal Hous- 8 ing Enterprises Financial Safety and Sound- 9 ness Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 4569). 10 (e) RENT RESTRICTIONS.— 11 (1) INAPPLICABILITY.—Section 576.106(d) of 12 title 24, Code of Federal Regulations, shall not 13 apply with respect to homelessness prevention assist- 14 ance made available with amounts made available 15 under subsection (a). 16 (2) AMOUNT OF RENTAL ASSISTANCE.—In pro- 17 viding homelessness prevention assistance with 18 amounts made available under subsection (a), the 19 maximum amount of rental assistance that may be 20 provided shall be the greater of— 21 (A) 120 percent of the higher of— 22 (i) the Fair Market Rent established 23 by the Secretary for the metropolitan area 24 or county; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3685.IS S3685 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3685 IS (ii) the applicable Small Area Fair 1 Market Rent established by the Secretary; 2 or 3 (B) such higher amount as the Secretary 4 shall determine is needed to cover market rents 5 in the area. 6 (f) SUBLEASES.—Notwithstanding the second sen- 7 tence of subsection (g) of section 576.106 of title 24 of 8 the Code of Federal Regulations, a program participant 9 may sublet, with rental assistance made available with 10 amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a) of this 11 section, a dwelling unit from a renter of the dwelling unit 12 if there is a legally binding, written lease agreement for 13 such sublease. 14 (g) HOUSING RELOCATION OR STABILIZATION AC- 15 TIVITIES.—A grantee of amounts made available pursuant 16 to subsection (a) may expend up to 25 percent of its allo- 17 cation for activities under section 415(a)(5) of the McKin- 18 ney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 19 11374(a)(5)), except that notwithstanding such section, 20 activities under such section may be provided only for indi- 21 viduals or families having incomes not exceeding 50 per- 22 cent of the area median income. 23 (h) ALLOCATION OF ASSISTANCE.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3685.IS S3685 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 3685 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—In allocating amounts made 1 available pursuant to subsection (a), the Secretary 2 shall— 3 (A)(i) for any purpose authorized in this 4 section, allocate 2 percent of such amount for 5 Indian tribes and tribally designated housing 6 entities (as such terms are defined in section 4 7 of the Native American Housing Assistance and 8 Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 9 4103)) under the formula established pursuant 10 to section 302 of such Act (25 U.S.C. 4152), 11 except that 0.3 percent of the amount allocated 12 under this clause shall be allocated for the De- 13 partment of Hawaiian Home Lands; and 14 (ii) not later than 30 days after the date 15 of enactment of this Act, obligate and disburse 16 the amounts allocated pursuant to clause (i) in 17 accordance with such allocations and provide 18 such grantees with any necessary guidance for 19 use of the funds; and 20 (B)(i) not later than 7 days after the date 21 of enactment of this Act and after setting aside 22 amounts under subparagraph (A), allocate 50 23 percent of any such remaining amounts under 24 the formula specified in subsections (a), (b), 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3685.IS S3685 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 3685 IS and (e) of section 414 of the McKinney-Vento 1 Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11373) 2 for, and notify, each State, metropolitan city, 3 and urban county that is to receive a direct 4 grant of such amounts; and 5 (ii) not later than 30 days after the date 6 of enactment of this Act, obligate and disburse 7 the amounts allocated pursuant to clause (i) in 8 accordance with such allocations and provide 9 such grantees with any necessary guidance for 10 use of the funds; and 11 (C)(i) not later than 45 days after the date 12 of enactment of this Act, allocate any remaining 13 amounts for eligible grantees according to a for- 14 mula to be developed by the Secretary that 15 takes into consideration the formula referred to 16 in subparagraph (A) and the need for emer- 17 gency rental assistance under this section, in- 18 cluding the severe housing cost burden among 19 extremely low- and very low-income renters and 20 disruptions in housing and economic conditions, 21 including unemployment; and 22 (ii) not later than 30 days after the date 23 of the allocation of such amounts pursuant to 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3685.IS S3685 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 3685 IS clause (i), obligate and disburse such amounts 1 in accordance with such allocations. 2 (2) ALLOCATIONS TO STATES.— 3 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sec- 4 tion 576.202(a) of title 24, Code of Federal 5 Regulations, a State recipient of an allocation 6 under this section may elect to administer up to 7 100 percent of its allocation to carry out activi- 8 ties eligible under this section. 9 (B) REQUIREMENT.—Any State recipient 10 making an election described in subparagraph 11 (A) shall serve households throughout the entire 12 State, including households in rural commu- 13 nities and small towns. 14 (3) ELECTION NOT TO ADMINISTER.—If a 15 grantee elects not to receive funds under this sec- 16 tion, such funds shall be allocated to the State re- 17 cipient in which the grantee is located. 18 (4) PARTNERSHIPS AND SUBGRANTEES.—A re- 19 cipient of a grant under this section may distribute 20 funds through 1 or more partnerships, subgrantees, 21 or contracts with an entity, including a public hous- 22 ing agency (as such term is defined in section 3(b) 23 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3685.IS S3685 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 3685 IS U.S.C. 1437a(b))), capable of carrying out a pro- 1 gram under this section. 2 (i) INAPPLICABILITY OF MATCHING REQUIRE- 3 MENT.—Section 416(a) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 4 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11375(a)) shall not apply to 5 any amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a) 6 of this section. 7 (j) REIMBURSEMENT OF ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.— 8 Amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a) may 9 be used by a grantee to reimburse expenditures incurred 10 for eligible activities under this section after March 27, 11 2020. 12 (k) PROHIBITION ON PREREQUISITES.—None of the 13 funds made available pursuant to this section may be used 14 to require any individual receiving assistance under the 15 program under this section to receive treatment or per- 16 form any other prerequisite activities as a condition for 17 receiving shelter, housing, or other services. 18 (l) WAIVERS AND ALTERNATIVE REQUIREMENTS.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.— 20 (A) AUTHORITY.—In administering the 21 amounts made available pursuant to subsection 22 (a), the Secretary may waive, or specify alter- 23 native requirements for, any provision of any 24 statute or regulation that the Secretary admin- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3685.IS S3685 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 3685 IS isters in connection with the obligation by the 1 Secretary or the use by the recipient of such 2 amounts (except for requirements related to fair 3 housing, nondiscrimination, labor standards, 4 prohibition on prerequisites [Text truncated for display. 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