II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 5004 To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide funding to public housing agencies for the purpose of providing tenant- based assistance to individuals experiencing an economic crisis or natural disaster, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 10, 2020 Mr. SCHATZ (for himself and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Hous- ing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop- ment to provide funding to public housing agencies for the purpose of providing tenant-based assistance to indi- viduals experiencing an economic crisis or natural dis- aster, 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 ‘‘Crisis Housing Act 4 of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5004.IS S5004 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 5004 IS SEC. 2. CRISIS HOUSING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the United States Hous- 2 ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.) is amended by 3 adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘SEC. 39. CRISIS HOUSING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 5 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 ‘‘(1) AFFECTED AREA.—The term ‘affected 7 area’ means— 8 ‘‘(A) a State in which a trigger event oc- 9 curs; 10 ‘‘(B) a county in which a trigger event oc- 11 curs; or 12 ‘‘(C) an Indian tribal government that is 13 subject to a trigger event. 14 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Adminis- 15 trator’ means the Administrator of the Federal 16 Emergency Management Agency. 17 ‘‘(3) COUNTY.—The term ‘county’ means a 18 county, parish, or other equivalent county division, 19 as defined by the Bureau of the Census. 20 ‘‘(4) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT.—The term ‘eligible 21 recipient’ means a family— 22 ‘‘(A)(i) that is a low-income family; or 23 ‘‘(ii) that has been determined to re- 24 quire housing assistance by the Adminis- 25 trator under section 408(b) of the Robert 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Dec 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5004.IS S5004 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 5004 IS T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 1 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174(b)); 2 ‘‘(B)(i) that resides or is homeless in an 3 affected area on a date that is on or not more 4 than 7 days before the date on which a trigger 5 event occurs in the affected area, regardless of 6 whether the family resides or experiences home- 7 lessness in the affected area on the date on 8 which the family applies for assistance under 9 this section; or 10 ‘‘(ii) that is governed by an Indian tribal 11 government that is subject to a trigger event; 12 and 13 ‘‘(C) that, not later than 180 days after 14 the date on which the trigger event described in 15 subparagraph (B) occurs, submits an applica- 16 tion to a public housing agency for rental as- 17 sistance under this section. 18 ‘‘(5) HOMELESS.—The term ‘homeless’ has the 19 meaning given the term in section 103 of the 20 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 21 U.S.C. 11302). 22 ‘‘(6) INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENT.—The term 23 ‘Indian tribal government’ has the meaning given 24 the term in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5004.IS S5004 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 5004 IS Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 1 U.S.C. 5122). 2 ‘‘(7) RENTAL ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘rental 3 assistance’ means tenant-based assistance that is au- 4 thorized under this section. 5 ‘‘(8) RENTAL CONTRIBUTION.—The term ‘rent- 6 al contribution’ means a contribution of an eligible 7 recipient towards the rental price of a housing unit 8 paid for with rental assistance. 9 ‘‘(9) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means any 10 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 11 and any territory of the United States. 12 ‘‘(10) TENANT-BASED ASSISTANCE.—The term 13 ‘tenant-based assistance’ means housing assistance 14 that allows an eligible recipient to— 15 ‘‘(A) select a housing unit where the eligi- 16 ble recipient will be assisted under this section; 17 and 18 ‘‘(B) move to another housing unit and 19 continue to receive assistance under this sec- 20 tion, as long as the eligible recipient complies 21 with the requirements of this section. 22 ‘‘(11) TRIBALLY DESIGNATED HOUSING ENTI- 23 TY.—The term ‘Tribally designated housing entity’ 24 has the meaning given the term ‘tribally designated 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5004.IS S5004 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 5004 IS housing entity’ in section 4 of the Native American 1 Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 2 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4103). 3 ‘‘(12) TRIGGER EVENT.—The term ‘trigger 4 event’ means— 5 ‘‘(A) with respect to a State— 6 ‘‘(i) an increase in the 6-month mov- 7 ing average of the unemployment rate in 8 the State that is not less than 0.5 percent- 9 age points greater than the lowest unem- 10 ployment rate in the State during the 12- 11 month period preceding the date of the in- 12 crease; or 13 ‘‘(ii) a major disaster under which as- 14 sistance is authorized under section 408 of 15 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 16 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 17 5174) in counties in which a majority of 18 the residents of the State reside; 19 ‘‘(B) with respect to a county, a major dis- 20 aster under which assistance is authorized for 21 individuals in the county under section 408 of 22 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 23 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174); 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5004.IS S5004 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 5004 IS ‘‘(C) with respect to an Indian tribal gov- 1 ernment— 2 ‘‘(i) an event described in subpara- 3 graph (A) that occurs within a State in 4 which the Indian tribal government is lo- 5 cated; 6 ‘‘(ii) an event described in subpara- 7 graph (B) that occurs within a county in 8 which the Indian tribal government is lo- 9 cated; 10 ‘‘(iii) an increase in the 6-month mov- 11 ing average of the unemployment rate of 12 the individuals governed by the Indian 13 tribal government that is not less than 0.5 14 percentage points greater than the lowest 15 unemployment rate of the individuals gov- 16 erned by the Indian tribal government dur- 17 ing the 12-month period preceding the 18 date of the increase; or 19 ‘‘(iv) a major disaster under which as- 20 sistance is authorized for individuals gov- 21 erned by the Indian tribal government 22 under section 408 of the Robert T. Staf- 23 ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist- 24 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Dec 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5004.IS S5004 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 5004 IS ‘‘(b) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 2 funding to public housing agencies that provide rent- 3 al assistance to eligible recipients under this section 4 in accordance with this subsection. 5 ‘‘(2) ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS.—A public 6 housing agency may begin to accept applications for 7 rental assistance on the date on which the Secretary 8 provides notice to the public housing agency under 9 subsection (h)(2). 10 ‘‘(3) CONFIRMATION OF ELIGIBILITY.—Not 11 later than 30 days after the date on which a public 12 housing agency receives an application for rental as- 13 sistance from an individual— 14 ‘‘(A) the public housing agency shall co- 15 ordinate with the Secretary to determine wheth- 16 er the individual qualifies as an eligible recipi- 17 ent; and 18 ‘‘(B) the Secretary shall confirm the deter- 19 mination made under subparagraph (A). 20 ‘‘(4) ISSUING OF RENTAL ASSISTANCE.—For 21 each individual who applies to a public housing 22 agency that is confirmed as an eligible recipient 23 under paragraph (3)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5004.IS S5004 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 5004 IS ‘‘(A) the Secretary shall guarantee pay- 1 ment to the public housing agency for the cost 2 of rental assistance and the administrative fees 3 established under subsection (f); and 4 ‘‘(B) the public housing agency shall issue 5 rental assistance to the eligible recipient. 6 ‘‘(5) PRIORITY IN THE CASE OF A MAJOR DIS- 7 ASTER.—In issuing rental assistance under para- 8 graph (4)(B), an eligible public housing agency shall 9 prioritize the eligible recipients described in sub- 10 section (a)(4)(A)(ii). 11 ‘‘(6) INCREMENTAL INCREASE IN RENTAL CON- 12 TRIBUTION.— 13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may re- 14 quire that the rental contribution of an eligible 15 recipient receiving rental assistance incremen- 16 tally increases beginning on the date that is 1 17 year after the date on which the first rental 18 payment on a housing unit using the rental as- 19 sistance occurs. 20 ‘‘(B) FREQUENCY.—An increase described 21 in subparagraph (A) may occur not more fre- 22 quently than quarterly. 23 ‘‘(C) AMOUNTS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5004.IS S5004 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 5004 IS ‘‘(i) FIRST INCREASE.—The first in- 1 crease described in subparagraph (A) shall 2 be in an amount that ensures that an eligi- 3 ble recipient contributes not more than 30 4 percent of the adjusted income of the eligi- 5 ble recipient towards a rental unit. 6 ‘‘(ii) FINAL INCREASE.—The final in- 7 crease described in subparagraph (A) shall 8 be in an amount that ensures that an eligi- 9 ble recipient contributes not more than 40 10 percent of the adjusted income of the eligi- 11 ble recipient towards a rental unit. 12 ‘‘(D) DECREASE.—At any time, the Sec- 13 retary may reduce a rental contribution of an 14 eligible recipient receiving rental assistance if 15 the adjusted income of the eligible recipient de- 16 creases suddenly. 17 ‘‘(E) LIMIT.—An eligible recipient may not 18 be required to contribute more than 40 percent 19 of the adjusted income of the eligible recipient 20 towards a rental unit paid for with rental as- 21 sistance. 22 ‘‘(7) TRIBALLY DESIGNATED HOUSING ENTI- 23 TIES.—In the case of an eligible recipient that is eli- 24 gible as a result of a trigger event described in sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5004.IS S5004 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 5004 IS section (a)(12)(C), a Tribally designated housing en- 1 tity may be considered a public housing agency for 2 the purpose of this section. 3 ‘‘(8) REASONABLE RENT.—The rental price for 4 a housing unit paid for with rental assistance shall 5 be reasonable in comparison with rents charged for 6 comparable housing units in the private, unassisted 7 local market of the area in which the housing unit 8 is located. 9 ‘‘(c) HOUSING COUNSELING AND SUPPORT.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, through 11 agreements with public housing agencies issuing 12 rental assistance, shall provide housing counseling 13 services to eligible recipients receiving rental assist- 14 ance. 15 ‘‘(2) SERVICES.—The housing counseling serv- 16 ices provided under this subsection shall include as- 17 sisting an eligible recipient find housing— 18 ‘‘(A) with the rental assistance; and 19 ‘‘(B) after the expiration of the rental as- 20 sistance. 21 ‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 22 may provide funding to public housing agencies for 23 the purpose of paying for utility and security depos- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5004.IS S5004 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 5004 IS its that are necessary in order for eligible recipients 1 to secure housing with rental assistance. 2 ‘‘(4) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.—A public 3 housing agency may enter into an agreement with a 4 community nonprofit organization to deliver housing 5 counseling services under this subsection. 6 ‘‘(d) TIMELINE FOR RENTAL ASSISTANCE.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Rental assistance shall ex- 8 pire on the date that is 2 years after the date on 9 which the first rental payment on a housing unit 10 using the rental assistance occurs. 11 ‘‘(2) EXTENSION.—The Secretary shall extend 12 the validity of rental assistance expiring under para- 13 graph (1) for 1 additional year if— 14 ‘‘(A) in the case of rental assistance of an 15 eligible recipient that receives the rental assist- 16 ance as a result of a trigger event that is an in- 17 crease in the 6-month moving average of the 18 unemployment rate of an affected area, on the 19 date that is 2 years after the date on which the 20 trigger event occurred, the unemployment rate 21 of the affected area is not less than 2 percent- 22 age points greater than it was on the date on 23 which the trigger event occurred; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5004.IS S5004 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 5004 IS ‘‘(B) in the case of rental assistance of an 1 eligible recipient that receives the rental assist- 2 ance as a result of a trigger event occurring in 3 an affected area that is a major disaster under 4 which assistance is authorized under section 5 408 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 6 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 7 5174), the Governor of the State in which the 8 affected area is located, in consultation with the 9 Administrator, if appropriate— 10 ‘‘(i) requests the extension; and 11 ‘‘(ii) determines that the housing in 12 the affected area that is available to low- 13 income families has not recovered from the 14 trigger event. 15 ‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL TRIGGER EVENT.—If an eligi- 16 ble recipient receiving rental assistance as a result of 17 a trigger event resides in an affected area on or not 18 more than 7 days before the date on which an addi- 19 tional trigger event occurs, or if an eligible recipient 20 receiving rental assistance as a result of a trigger 21 event is governed by an Indian tribal government 22 that is subject to an additional trigger event, the 23 Secretary shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Dec 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5004.IS S5004 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 5004 IS ‘‘(A) extend the validity of the rent [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]