Legal Assistance to Prevent Evictions Act of 2020
This bill requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development to award grants to nonprofit and governmental entities to provide free legal assistance to eligible low-income tenants at risk of, or subject to, eviction.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5884 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5884
To establish a grant program to provide legal assistance to eligible
tenants at risk of or subject to eviction, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 13, 2020
Mr. Clyburn (for himself, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Ms. Clarke of
New York, Mr. Khanna, and Mrs. Hayes) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a grant program to provide legal assistance to eligible
tenants at risk of or subject to eviction, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Legal Assistance to Prevent
Evictions Act of 2020''.
SEC. 2. EVICTIONS ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
shall establish a competitive grant program to provide grants to
eligible recipients to provide legal assistance (including assistance
related to pretrial activities, trial activities, post-trial
activities, and alternative dispute resolution) at no cost to eligible
tenants at risk of or subject to eviction.
(b) Application.--To be eligible to receive a grant under this
section, an applicant shall submit an application to the Secretary at
such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the
Secretary may reasonably require, including evidence of the experience
of the applicant providing legal assistance in residential eviction
matters.
(c) Point System for Preference Factors.--In awarding grants under
this section, the Secretary shall--
(1) establish a system that awards points to applicants in
accordance with the preference factors described in subsection
(d); and
(2) give priority to applicants with the greatest number of
points under the system.
(d) Preference Factors.--The preference factors for which an
applicant shall be awarded points under the system established pursuant
to subsection (c)(1) are as follows:
(1) Eviction rate preference.--If the applicant will use
grant funds awarded under this section to provide services in
census tracts with high rates of eviction. In making such
determinations, the Secretary shall use data determined by the
Secretary to be the best available, or if no appropriate data
is available, shall make reasonable inferences to determine the
rate of eviction in a census tract. The Secretary may not
require applicants to provide data on the rates of eviction in
the census tract in which the applicant intends to provide
services or award more points to applicants who provide such
data than to applicants who do not.
(2) Capacity preference.--If the Secretary determines that
the applicant has a greater capacity to produce more favorable
outcomes regarding eviction for eligible tenants. In making
such determinations, the Secretary may consider the
applicant's--
(A) past experience in producing favorable outcomes
for households facing eviction;
(B) proposed use of grant funds to increase staff
resources to provide legal assistance;
(C) demonstrated past effective use of resources to
provide legal assistance;
(D) ability to provide services to eligible tenants
with limited English proficiency; and
(E) ability to effectively communicate with
eligible tenants with disabilities.
(3) Preference for government entities that promote tenant
rights.--With respect to any applicant that is a governmental
entity, if the applicant has in effect laws or regulations that
promote tenant rights. In making such determinations, the
Secretary--
(A) shall consider laws or regulations establishing
a tenant's right to--
(i) counsel in evictions cases;
(ii) withhold rent if a landlord fails to
provide essential services to ensure
habitability of the premises;
(iii) deduct appliance repair costs from
rent owed;
(iv) notice of failure to pay rent or other
lease violation with the right to cure;
(v) a maximum security deposit equal to one
month's rent; and
(vi) the expeditious return of any security
deposit after terminating a lease; and
(B) may consider, with lesser weight given than the
weight given to those rights described in subsection
(A), laws or regulations establishing a tenant's right
to--
(i) advance notice of rent increases;
(ii) advance notice of landlord entry to
the property; or
(iii) adequate time to recover abandoned
property after eviction.
Points awarded under this paragraph shall not result in an
applicant governmental entity being awarded a grant that, in
the absence of this paragraph, would have been awarded to
either an applicant nonprofit entity or an applicant
governmental entity lacking the legal authority to enact laws
or regulations described in this paragraph because such entity
is subject to legal restrictions enacted by another
governmental entity.
(e) Rural Equity.--In awarding grants under this section, the
Secretary--
(1) shall, to the extent practicable, ensure that the
proportion of eligible tenants living in rural areas who will
receive legal assistance with grant funds awarded under this
section is not less than the overall proportion of eligible
tenants who live in rural areas; and
(2) may consider geographic diversity and an applicant's
capacity to serve eligible tenants living in rural areas.
(f) Supplement, Not Supplant.--Grant funds received under this Act
shall be used to supplement and not supplant other funds used by the
grantee to provide the legal assistance described in subsection (a).
(g) Report.--For each year that an eligible recipient receives
grant funds under this section, such eligible recipient shall submit to
the Secretary a report which maintains attorney-client confidentiality
and which excludes personally identifiable information about eligible
tenants. Such report shall contain--
(1) the total number of eligible tenants that were provided
legal assistance using such funds;
(2) the estimated number of evictions avoided, delayed, or
resolved with other outcomes (such as negotiated settlements)
that are more favorable to the eligible tenant than the
outcomes that would have been expected in the absence of
counsel, and a brief description of the circumstances of each
case;
(3) the number of eligible tenants that received legal
assistance that reside in a dwelling unit for which any subsidy
or assistance for occupancy in the dwelling unit is provided
under a program administered by Federal, State, or local
authorities; and
(4) demographic information about eligible tenants that
received legal assistance, including race, national origin,
sex, disability status, household income, household size,
household familial status, age of the head of household, and
whether tenants live in an urban area, suburban area, or rural
area.
(h) Definitions.--
(1) Eligible recipient.--The term ``eligible recipient''
means any nonprofit or governmental entity that has experience
providing no-cost legal assistance to low-income individuals.
(2) Eligible tenant.--The term ``eligible tenant'' means an
individual who has an annual household income of--
(A) not more than 135 percent of the Federal
poverty guidelines issued by the Secretary of Health
and Human Services; or
(B) less than 333 percent of average fair market
rent in the county of the individual--
(i) in the case of a household comprised of
one individual, for an efficiency; and
(ii) in the case of a household comprised
of more than one individual, for a residence in
which the number of bedrooms would not
require--
(I) more than two members of the
household to share a bedroom;
(II) children of different genders
to share a bedroom with one another; or
(III) a household member with a
disability requiring medical equipment
to share a bedroom.
(3) Rural area.--The term ``rural area'' means a census
tract that is--
(A) outside of a metropolitan statistical area, as
designated by the Office of Management and Budget; or
(B) within a metropolitan statistical area, as
designated by the Office of Management and Budget, that
is outside of the metropolitan statistical area's
urbanized areas as designated by the rural-urban
commuting area code 1 (as determined by the Secretary
of Agriculture), and outside of tracts with a housing
density of over 64 housing units per square mile
located in the rural-urban commuting area code 2 (as
determined by the Secretary of Agriculture).
(4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development.
(5) Suburban area.--The term ``suburban area'' means a
census tract with a population density of less than 2,500
inhabitants per square mile that is not a rural area.
(6) Urban area.--The term ``urban area'' means a census
tract with a population density of at least 2,500 inhabitants
per square mile.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line