Emergency Rental Assistance Act of 2020
This bill authorizes additional grants under the Emergency Solutions Grants program, administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, for states, local governments, and nonprofit organizations to provide expanded housing support to individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in response to needs arising from the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) public-health emergency.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6314 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6314
To provide emergency rental assistance under the Emergency Solutions
Grants program of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in
response to the public health emergency resulting from the coronavirus,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 23, 2020
Mr. Heck (for himself, Mr. Kilmer, Ms. DelBene, and Mr. Smith of
Washington) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide emergency rental assistance under the Emergency Solutions
Grants program of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in
response to the public health emergency resulting from the coronavirus,
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 ``Emergency Rental Assistance Act of
2020''.
SEC. 2. EMERGENCY RENTAL ASSISTANCE.
(a) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated for grants under the Emergency Solutions Grants program
under subtitle B of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance
Act (42 U.S.C. 11371 et seq.) $100,000,000,000 for grants under such
subtitle only for providing rental assistance in accordance with
section 415(a)(4) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 11374(a)(4)) and this section
to respond to needs arising from the emergency declared on March 13,
2020, by the President under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4121 et seq.) relating to the
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
(b) Income Targeting.--For purposes of assistance made available
with amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a)--
(1) section 401(1)(A) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360(1)(A)) shall be applied by
substituting ``80 percent'' for ``30 percent''; and
(2) each grantee of such amounts shall use not less than 50
percent of the amounts received only for providing assistance
for persons or families experiencing homelessness or at risk of
homelessness, who have incomes not exceeding 50 percent of the
median income for the relevant geographic area; except that the
Secretary may waive the requirement under this paragraph if the
grantee demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Secretary that
the population in the geographic area served by the grantee
having such incomes is sufficiently being served with respect
to activities eligible for funding with such amounts.
(c) Definition of at Risk of Homelessness.--For purposes of
assistance made available with amounts made available pursuant to
subsection (a), section 401(1) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act shall be applied, during the period that begins on the
date of the enactment of this Act and ends upon the expiration of the
6-month period that begins upon the termination by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency of the emergency declared on March 13,
2020, by the President under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4121 et seq.) relating to the
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, as if subparagraph (C)
were repealed.
(d) 3-Year Availability.--Each grantee of amounts made available
pursuant to subsection (a) shall expend--
(1) at least 60 percent of such grant amounts within 2
years of the date that such funds became available to the
grantee for obligation; and
(2) 100 percent of such grant amounts within 3 years of
such date.
The Secretary may recapture any amounts not expended in compliance with
paragraph (1) of this subsection and reallocate such amounts to
grantees in compliance with the formula referred to in subsection
(h)(1)(A) of this section.
(e) Rent Restrictions.--Paragraph (1) of section 576.106(d) of the
Secretary's regulations (24 C.F.R. 576.106(d)(1)) shall be applied,
with respect to rental assistance made available with amounts made
available pursuant to subsection (a), by substituting ``120 percent of
the Fair Market Rent'' for ``the Fair Market Rent''.
(f) Subleases.--Notwithstanding the second sentence of subsection
(g) of section 576.106 of the Secretary's regulations (24 C.F.R.
576.106(g)), a program participant may sublet, with rental assistance
made available with amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a)
of this section, a dwelling unit from a renter of the dwelling unit if
there is a legally binding, written lease agreement for such sublease.
(g) Housing Relocation or Stabilization Activities.--A grantee of
amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a) may expend up to 20
percent of its allocation for activities under section 415(a)(5) of the
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11374(a)(5)).
(h) Allocation of Assistance.--
(1) In general.--In allocating amounts made available
pursuant to subsection (a), the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development shall--
(A) not later than 30 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, allocate any such amounts that
do not exceed $50,000,000,000 under the formula
specified in subsections (a), (b), and (e) of section
414 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42
U.S.C. 11373) to, and notify, each State, metropolitan
city, and urban county that is to receive a direct
grant of such amounts; and
(B) not later than 120 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, allocate any remaining amounts
to eligible grantees by a formula to be developed by
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development that
takes into consideration the formula referred to in
subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, and the need for
emergency rental assistance under this section,
including severe housing cost burden among extremely
low- and very low-income renters and disruptions in
housing and economic conditions, including
unemployment.
(2) Allocations to states.--A State recipient of an
allocation under this section may elect to directly administer
up to 50 percent of its allocation to carry out activities
eligible under this section.
(3) Election not to administer.--If a grantee elects not to
receive funds under this section, such funds shall be allocated
to the State recipient in which the grantee is located.
(i) Inapplicability of Matching Requirement.--Subsection (a) of
section 416 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C.
11375(a)) shall not apply to any amounts made available pursuant to
subsection (a) of this section.
(j) Prohibition on Prerequisites.--None of the funds authorized
under this section may be used to require people experiencing
homelessness to receive treatment or perform any other prerequisite
activities as a condition for receiving shelter, housing, or other
services.
(k) Public Hearings.--
(1) Inapplicability of in-person hearing requirements.--A
grantee may not be required to hold in-person public hearings
in connection with its citizen participation plan, but shall
provide citizens with notice and a reasonable opportunity to
comment of not less than 15 days. Following the period that
begins upon the date of the enactment of this Act and ends upon
the date of the termination by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency of the emergency declared on March 13, 2020, by the
President under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4121 et seq.) relating to
the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and after the
period described in paragraph (2), the Secretary shall direct
grantees to resume pre-crisis public hearing requirements.
(2) Virtual public hearings.--During the period that
national or local health authorities recommend social
distancing and limiting public gatherings for public health
reasons, a grantee may fulfill applicable public hearing
requirements for all grants from funds made available pursuant
to this section by carrying out virtual public hearings. Any
such virtual hearings shall provide reasonable notification and
access for citizens in accordance with the grantee's
certifications, timely responses from local officials to all
citizen questions and issues, and public access to all
questions and responses.
(l) Administration.--Of any amounts made available pursuant to
subsection (a), not more than the lesser of 0.5 percent, or
$15,000,000, may be used for staffing, training, technical assistance,
technology, monitoring, research, and evaluation activities necessary
to carry out the program carried out under this section, and such
amounts shall remain available until September 30, 2024.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
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