Prevent Homelessness Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8674 To establish a Housing Stabilization Fund to provide emergency housing assistance to extremely low-income renters and homeowners, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 23, 2020 Mr. TED LIEU of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To establish a Housing Stabilization Fund to provide emer- gency housing assistance to extremely low-income renters and homeowners, 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 ‘‘Prevent Homelessness 4 Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. HOUSING STABILIZATION FUND. 6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Housing 7 and Urban Development, acting through the Office of Spe- 8 cial Needs Assistance Programs of the Office of Commu- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:55 Nov 13, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8674.IH H8674 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8674 IH nity Planning and Development, shall establish and ad- 1 minister a fund to be known as the Housing Stabilization 2 Fund. 3 (b) GRANTS.—Amounts in the Fund shall be avail- 4 able, to the extent provided in advance in appropriations 5 Acts, only for making annual grants under this section, 6 in the amount determined pursuant to subsection (f), to 7 continua of care to provide short-term assistance under 8 emergency housing assistance programs that the Secretary 9 determines, pursuant to applications under subsection (e), 10 meet the requirements of subsection (c). 11 (c) EMERGENCY HOUSING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 12 REQUIREMENTS.—An emergency housing assistance pro- 13 gram shall be considered to meet the requirements of this 14 subsection only if the program— 15 (1) is carried out by a continuum of care or 16 other agency, organization, or entity selected by a 17 continuum of care; 18 (2) operates within the geographical area served 19 by the continuum of care; 20 (3) provides financial assistance only on behalf 21 of extremely low-income families who— 22 (A) are unable to meet housing-related ob- 23 ligations (as described in subsection (d) of this 24 section) due to a financial hardship, which shall 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:55 Nov 13, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8674.IH H8674 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8674 IH include the situations described in clause (i) of 1 section 3(a)(3)(B) of the United States Hous- 2 ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(a)(3)(B)(i)), 3 a family or health crisis, unexpected expenses, 4 unsafe or unhealthy living conditions, and such 5 other situations as the Secretary may provide; 6 and 7 (B) provide evidence of such inability to 8 meet housing related obligations, which may in- 9 clude past-due utilities or rent notices, eviction 10 notices, and such other evidence as the Sec- 11 retary may provide, except that a continuum of 12 care may, in consultation with the Secretary, 13 provide for additional manners of identifying in- 14 ability to meet housing related obligations in 15 situations in which such notices are not avail- 16 able; 17 (4) provides for coordination with any local 18 homeless prioritization criteria, including the Coordi- 19 nated Entry System or any other evidence-based 20 analytic targeting tool, applicable within the area in 21 which the program will be carried out, in accordance 22 with such requirements as the Secretary shall pro- 23 vide; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:55 Nov 13, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8674.IH H8674 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8674 IH (5) meets such other requirements as the Sec- 1 retary may establish. 2 (d) ELIGIBLE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—Amounts 3 from grants under this section for an emergency housing 4 assistance program shall be used to provide financial as- 5 sistance only to meet housing-related obligations, includ- 6 ing— 7 (1) rent due, including amounts past due, ex- 8 cept that such assistance may not— 9 (A) be provided for a family for more than 10 8 months (whether consecutive or not) within 11 the preceding 12 months; and 12 (B) may not exceed on a monthly basis the 13 amount that the Secretary determines is rea- 14 sonable in comparison with rents charged for 15 comparable dwelling units located in the same 16 area in the private, unassisted local market; 17 (2) mortgage payments due, including amounts 18 past due, except that such assistance may not be 19 provided for a household for more than 8 months 20 (whether consecutive or not) within the preceding 12 21 months and may not exceed on a monthly basis such 22 amount as the Secretary shall determine; 23 (3) utility payments due, including amounts 24 past due; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:55 Nov 13, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8674.IH H8674 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8674 IH (4) housing repairs necessary to make the 1 premises habitable, including installing insulation, 2 window repair, door repair, roof repair, and other re- 3 pairs; 4 (5) costs of obtaining services for behavioral, 5 emotional, and mental health issues, domestic vio- 6 lence issues, child welfare issues, employment coun- 7 seling, substance abuse treatment, or other services; 8 (6) costs of obtaining housing counseling or ad- 9 vice, including outreach, mediation, and case man- 10 agement; 11 (7) costs of obtaining legal assistance relating 12 to eviction, foreclosure, and other issues relating to 13 a family retaining its housing; and 14 (8) other short-term costs the payment of which 15 increase housing stability for an extremely low-in- 16 come family, including costs for gas, groceries, auto- 17 motive repair, public transportation, furniture, appli- 18 cation fees, reunification services, and such other 19 costs as the Secretary may provide. 20 (e) APPLICATIONS.—The Secretary shall require, for 21 a continuum of care to receive a grant under this section 22 for a fiscal year, that the continuum of care submit to 23 the Secretary, and the Secretary approve, an application 24 containing such information as the Secretary considers 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:55 Nov 13, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8674.IH H8674 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8674 IH necessary to ensure that grant amounts are used in ac- 1 cordance with this section. 2 (f) AMOUNT OF GRANTS.— 3 (1) ALLOCATION.— 4 (A) FISCAL YEAR 2021.—For fiscal year 5 2021, any amounts made available from the 6 Fund for grants under this section shall be allo- 7 cated for grants to continua of care according 8 to the formula established pursuant to para- 9 graph (2). 10 (B) SUCCEEDING FISCAL YEARS.—For 11 each fiscal year thereafter, of any amounts 12 made available from the Fund for grants under 13 this section— 14 (i) 80 percent shall be allocated for 15 grants to continua of care according to the 16 formula established pursuant to paragraph 17 (2); and 18 (ii) 20 percent shall be allocated for 19 grants to continua of care according to a 20 competition pursuant to paragraph (3). 21 (2) FORMULA.— 22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, by 23 regulation, establish a formula for use to allo- 24 cate amounts in the Fund for grants for a fiscal 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:55 Nov 13, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8674.IH H8674 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8674 IH year, in accordance with paragraph (1), for 1 continua of care whose applications for such 2 year for such assistance have been approved 3 pursuant to subsection (e). 4 (B) FACTORS.—The formula required by 5 subparagraph (A) shall be designed to take into 6 consideration, for the area served by a con- 7 tinuum of care— 8 (i) the extent of the population that 9 are extremely low-income families, includ- 10 ing the homeless population that is 11 unsheltered, who are severely cost-bur- 12 dened by housing-related costs, including 13 obligations described in subsection (d); and 14 (ii) such other factors as the Sec- 15 retary may provide. 16 The Secretary shall determine data to be used 17 for the factors considered under the formula 18 based on the most recently conducted Point-In- 19 Time Homeless Count administered by the Sec- 20 retary. 21 (3) COMPETITION.—The Secretary shall, by 22 regulation, establish a competition for use to allocate 23 amounts in the Fund for grants for a fiscal year for 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:55 Nov 13, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8674.IH H8674 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8674 IH continua of care pursuant to paragraph (1)(B)(ii), 1 which shall be based on measurable criteria that— 2 (A) to the greatest extent possible, are re- 3 quired to be collected and reported to the De- 4 partment of Housing and Urban Development 5 or any other Federal agency under other provi- 6 sions of law already in effect or otherwise do 7 not impose new burdens on continua of care; 8 (B) provide for targeting of assistance 9 made available under an emergency housing as- 10 sistance program to households having the low- 11 est incomes; 12 (C) encourage the leveraging of other non- 13 Federal funds for providing assistance under an 14 emergency housing assistance program; 15 (D) encourage emergency housing assist- 16 ance programs assisted with grants under this 17 section to provide preventive assistance to avoid 18 homelessness; and 19 (E) encourage problem-solving and diver- 20 sion methods, including the applicant’s capacity 21 and interest in providing innovative delivery of 22 housing stability interventions and connecting 23 households to other public benefits that pro- 24 mote housing stability. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:55 Nov 13, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8674.IH H8674 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 8674 IH (g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act, the fol- 1 lowing definitions shall apply: 2 (1) CONTINUUM OF CARE.—The term ‘‘con- 3 tinuum of care’’ means a collaborative applicant es- 4 tablished and operating for a geographic area for 5 purposes of the Continuum of Care Program under 6 subtitle C of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Home- 7 less Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11381 et seq.). 8 (2) FUND.—The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the 9 Housing Stabilization Fund established under sub- 10 section (a). 11 (3) EXTREMELY LOW-INCOME FAMILY.—The 12 term ‘‘extremely low-income family’’ has the mean- 13 ing given such term in section 3(b) of the United 14 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 15 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 16 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 17 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 18 authorized to be appropriated for the Fund $100,000,000 19 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:55 Nov 13, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8674.IH H8674 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS