Housing Supply and Affordability Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 5061 To authorize a grant program for the development and implementation of housing supply and affordability plans, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 17, 2020 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and Mr. KAINE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Hous- ing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To authorize a grant program for the development and imple- mentation of housing supply and affordability plans, 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 ‘‘Housing Supply and 4 Affordability Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. LOCAL HOUSING POLICY GRANT PROGRAM. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5061.IS S5061 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 5061 IS (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 1 means the Department of Housing and Urban De- 2 velopment. 3 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 4 ty’’ means a State, a political subdivision of a State, 5 a regional coalition of political subdivisions of 6 States, or an Indian Tribe that— 7 (A) demonstrates, with respect to the area 8 under the jurisdiction of the State, political 9 subdivision, regional coalition, or Indian 10 Tribe— 11 (i) rising housing costs or a reason- 12 able expectation that housing costs will rise 13 in the area; and 14 (ii) a pattern of imbalance between 15 the availability of jobs and housing in the 16 area; 17 (B) if applying for a planning grant— 18 (i) intends to develop, or is in the 19 process of developing, a housing policy 20 plan; and 21 (ii) demonstrates an intent to use a 22 portion of the planning grant to engage 23 with community stakeholders in developing 24 a housing policy plan; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5061.IS S5061 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 5061 IS (C) if applying for an implementation 1 grant— 2 (i) has adopted and plans to imple- 3 ment, or is in the process of implementing, 4 a housing policy plan; and 5 (ii) demonstrates the engagement of 6 community stakeholders in developing the 7 housing policy plan. 8 (3) HOUSING POLICY PLAN.—The term ‘‘hous- 9 ing policy plan’’ means a comprehensive plan of an 10 eligible entity to, with respect to the area under the 11 jurisdiction of the eligible entity— 12 (A) increase the housing supply in the 13 area, while avoiding the displacement of the 14 residents of the area; 15 (B) increase the affordability of housing in 16 the area; and 17 (C) reduce barriers to housing development 18 in the area. 19 (4) IMPLEMENTATION GRANT.—The term ‘‘im- 20 plementation grant’’ means a grant awarded under 21 subsection (b). 22 (5) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 23 has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5061.IS S5061 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 5061 IS Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 1 Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 2 (6) PLANNING GRANT.—The term ‘‘planning 3 grant’’ means a grant awarded under subsection (c). 4 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 5 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 6 acting through the Assistant Secretary for Commu- 7 nity Planning and Development, in coordination 8 with— 9 (A) the Office of Economic Resilience of 10 the Office of Community Planning and Develop- 11 ment of the Department; 12 (B) the Office of Policy Development and 13 Research of the Department; 14 (C) the Office of Fair Housing and Equal 15 Opportunity of the Department; and 16 (D) the Office of Housing of the Depart- 17 ment. 18 (8) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 19 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 20 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is- 21 lands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth 22 of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any possession 23 of the United States. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5061.IS S5061 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 5061 IS (b) PLANNING GRANTS.—The Secretary may award 1 grants on a competitive basis to eligible entities for the 2 purpose of developing and evaluating housing policy plans. 3 (c) IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.—The Secretary may 4 award grants on a competitive basis to eligible entities for 5 the purpose of implementing housing policy plans. 6 (d) APPLICATIONS.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity desiring a 8 grant under this section shall submit to the Sec- 9 retary an application at such time, in such manner, 10 and containing such information as the Secretary 11 may require. 12 (2) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 13 section, the Secretary shall give priority to an eligi- 14 ble entity that— 15 (A) has or is likely to develop a housing 16 policy plan that will— 17 (i) improve housing supply and afford- 18 ability; 19 (ii) reduce barriers to affordable hous- 20 ing development; and 21 (iii) avoid the displacement of resi- 22 dents by new housing developments in the 23 area under the jurisdiction of the eligible 24 entity; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5061.IS S5061 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 5061 IS (B) intends to leverage and efficiently use 1 funds from another Federal, State, or local as- 2 sistance program relating to housing in devel- 3 oping or implementing a housing policy plan, 4 including— 5 (i) the Community Development Block 6 Grant Program under title I of the Hous- 7 ing and Community Development Act of 8 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.); or 9 (ii) the HOME Investment Partner- 10 ships Program authorized under title II of 11 the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 12 Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12721 et seq.); 13 (C) intends to— 14 (i) increase the supply and afford- 15 ability of housing that is located— 16 (I) near local transportation op- 17 tions; and 18 (II) in areas in which a signifi- 19 cant or expanding supply of jobs is 20 concentrated; and 21 (ii) coordinate with local transpor- 22 tation and workforce agencies in accom- 23 plishing the increase described in clause 24 (i); or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5061.IS S5061 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 5061 IS (D) is a regional coalition of political sub- 1 divisions of States. 2 (3) DEGREE OF PRIORITY COMMENSURATE 3 WITH DEGREE OF COMPLIANCE.—The Secretary 4 shall base the degree of priority given to an eligible 5 entity under paragraph (2) on the number of sub- 6 paragraphs under that paragraph that the eligible 7 entity has satisfied, relative to the number of such 8 subparagraphs that each other eligible entity apply- 9 ing for a grant under this section has satisfied. 10 (e) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that re- 12 ceives a grant under this section shall provide non- 13 Federal contributions in an amount equal to the 14 amount of the grant. 15 (2) ELIGIBLE MATCHING FUNDS.—If an eligible 16 entity uses funds from another Federal assistance 17 program relating to housing in developing or imple- 18 menting a housing policy plan for which the eligible 19 entity also receives a grant under this section, any 20 non-Federal contribution made by the eligible entity 21 as part of that Federal assistance program shall be 22 counted towards the requirement under paragraph 23 (1). 24 (f) USE OF FUNDS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5061.IS S5061 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 5061 IS (1) PLANNING GRANTS.—An eligible entity re- 1 ceiving a planning grant may use funds from the 2 planning grant to finance activities to help develop 3 and evaluate a housing policy plan, including— 4 (A) technical assistance; 5 (B) market evaluations; 6 (C) code writing assistance; 7 (D) design options; and 8 (E) stakeholder outreach and education. 9 (2) IMPLEMENTATION AND PLANNING 10 GRANTS.—An eligible entity receiving a grant under 11 this section shall use a portion of the funds from the 12 grant to submit the report required under subsection 13 (g)(1). 14 (g) REPORTS AND STUDY.— 15 (1) GRANT RECIPIENT REPORTS.—Not later 16 than 180 days after the date on which an eligible en- 17 tity receives a grant under this section, and not less 18 frequently than quarterly thereafter for a 3-year pe- 19 riod, the eligible entity shall submit to the Secretary 20 a report that includes— 21 (A) a description of the expenditures the 22 eligible entity has made with funds from the 23 grant; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5061.IS S5061 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 5061 IS (B) for an eligible entity receiving a plan- 1 ning grant, a summary of the progress of the 2 eligibility entity towards finalizing a housing 3 policy plan; and 4 (C) for an eligible entity receiving an im- 5 plementation grant, data relating to the success 6 of the implementation of the housing policy 7 plan of the eligible entity. 8 (2) SECRETARY STUDY AND REPORT.— 9 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 years 10 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 11 retary shall conduct a study on— 12 (i) the impact of implementation 13 grants and planning grants on the areas 14 under the jurisdiction of eligible entities re- 15 ceiving those grants; and 16 (ii) successful strategies from housing 17 policy plans that were impactful in— 18 (I) expanding the housing supply; 19 and 20 (II) increasing the quantity of 21 quality and affordable housing, while 22 avoiding the displacement of the resi- 23 dents of an area. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5061.IS S5061 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 5061 IS (B) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after 1 the date on which the Secretary completes the 2 study required under subparagraph (A), the 3 Secretary shall submit to the appropriate com- 4 mittees of Congress a report on the study. 5 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 6 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for 7 each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025 $300,000,000 to 8 carry out this Act. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Jan 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S5061.IS S5061 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS