COVID-19 Emergency Housing Relief Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6806 To suspend certain requirements under the public housing and housing choice voucher programs during the COVID-19 emergency, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 12, 2020 Mr. CLEAVER (for himself and Ms. WATERS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To suspend certain requirements under the public housing and housing choice voucher programs during the COVID- 19 emergency, 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 ‘‘COVID-19 Emergency 4 Housing Relief Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6806.IH H6806 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6806 IH SEC. 2. SUSPENSION OF COMMUNITY SERVICE, WORK, 1 PRESENCE IN UNIT, AND MINIMUM RENT RE- 2 QUIREMENTS AND TIME LIMITS ON ASSIST- 3 ANCE. 4 (a) SUSPENSION.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 5 sion of law, during the period that begins upon the date 6 of the enactment of this Act and ends 6 months after the 7 end of the incident period for the emergency declared on 8 March 13, 2020, by the President under section 501 of 9 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As- 10 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4121 et seq.) relating to the 11 Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the fol- 12 lowing provisions of law and requirements shall not apply: 13 (1) Section 12(c) of the United States Housing 14 Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437j(c); relating to com- 15 munity service). 16 (2) Any work requirement or time limitation on 17 assistance established by a public housing agency 18 participating in the Moving to Work demonstration 19 program authorized under section 204 of the De- 20 partments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and 21 Urban Development and Independent Agencies Ap- 22 propriations Act, 1996 (Public Law 104–134; 110 23 Stat. 1321). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6806.IH H6806 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6806 IH (3) Paragraph (3) of section 3(a) of the United 1 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(a)(3); 2 relating to minimum rental amount). 3 (4) Section 982.312 of the regulations of the 4 Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (24 5 C.F.R. 982.312); relating to absence from unit). 6 (b) PROHIBITION.—No penalty may be imposed nor 7 any adverse action taken for failure on the part of any 8 tenant of public housing or a dwelling unit assisted under 9 section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 10 U.S.C. 1437f) to comply with the laws and requirements 11 specified in subsection (a) during the period specified in 12 subsection (a). 13 SEC. 3. HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHERS. 14 (a) SECTION 8 VOUCHERS.—Notwithstanding any 15 other provision of law, the Secretary of Housing and 16 Urban Development shall provide that— 17 (1) during the COVID-19 emergency period, a 18 public housing agency may not terminate the avail- 19 ability to an eligible household of a housing choice 20 voucher under section 8(o) of the United States 21 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) for fail- 22 ure to enter into a lease for an assisted dwelling 23 unit; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6806.IH H6806 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6806 IH (2) in the case of any eligible household on 1 whose behalf such a housing choice voucher has been 2 made available, if as of the termination of the 3 COVID-19 emergency period such availability has 4 not terminated (including by reason of paragraph 5 (1) of this subsection) and such voucher has not 6 been used to enter into a lease for an assisted dwell- 7 ing unit, the public housing agency making such 8 voucher available may not terminate such availability 9 until the expiration of the 60-day period beginning 10 upon the termination of the COVID-19 emergency 11 period. 12 (b) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 13 term ‘‘COVID-19 emergency period’’ means the period 14 that begins upon the date of the enactment of this Act 15 and ends upon the end of the incident period for the emer- 16 gency declared on March 13, 2020, by the President under 17 section 501 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 18 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5191) relating to 19 the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6806.IH H6806 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS