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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2206 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2206
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
March 18, 2025
Mr. Lieu (for himself, Mr. Mullin, and Mr. Jackson of Illinois)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a Housing Stabilization Fund to provide emergency housing
assistance to extremely low-income renters and homeowners, 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 ``Prevent Homelessness Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. HOUSING STABILIZATION FUND.
(a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development,
acting through the Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs of the
Office of Community Planning and Development, shall establish and
administer a fund to be known as the Housing Stabilization Fund.
(b) Grants.--Amounts in the Fund shall be available, to the extent
provided in advance in appropriations Acts, only for making annual
grants under this section, in the amount determined pursuant to
subsection (f), to continua of care to provide short-term assistance
under emergency housing assistance programs that the Secretary
determines, pursuant to applications under subsection (e), meet the
requirements of subsection (c).
(c) Emergency Housing Assistance Program Requirements.--An
emergency housing assistance program shall be considered to meet the
requirements of this subsection only if the program--
(1) is carried out by a continuum of care or other agency,
organization, or entity selected by a continuum of care;
(2) operates within the geographical area served by the
continuum of care;
(3) provides financial assistance only on behalf of
extremely low-income families and very low-income families
who--
(A) are unable to meet housing-related obligations
(as described in subsection (d) of this section) due to
a financial hardship, which shall include the
situations described in clause (i) of section
3(a)(3)(B) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42
U.S.C. 1437a(a)(3)(B)(i)), a family or health crisis,
unexpected expenses, unsafe or unhealthy living
conditions, and such other situations as the Secretary
may provide; and
(B) provide evidence of such inability to meet
housing related obligations, which may include past-due
utilities or rent notices, eviction notices, and such
other evidence as the Secretary may provide, except
that a continuum of care may, in consultation with the
Secretary, provide for additional manners of
identifying inability to meet housing related
obligations in situations in which such notices are not
available;
(4) provides for coordination with any local homeless
prioritization criteria, including the Coordinated Entry System
or any other evidence-based analytic targeting tool, applicable
within the area in which the program will be carried out, in
accordance with such requirements as the Secretary shall
provide; and
(5) meets such other requirements as the Secretary may
establish.
(d) Eligible Financial Assistance.--Amounts from grants under this
section for an emergency housing assistance program shall be used to
provide financial assistance only to meet housing-related obligations,
including--
(1) prospective rent due, except that such assistance may
not--
(A) be provided for a family for more than 8 months
(whether consecutive or not) within the preceding 12
months; or
(B) exceed on a monthly basis the amount that the
Secretary determines is reasonable in comparison with
rents charged for comparable dwelling units located in
the same area in the private, unassisted local market;
(2) rental arrears, with payments based on actual rent
amount due;
(3) mortgage payments due, including amounts past due,
except that such assistance may not be provided for a household
for more than 8 months (whether consecutive or not) within the
preceding 12 months and may not exceed on a monthly basis such
amount as the Secretary shall determine;
(4) utility payments due, including amounts past due;
(5) housing repairs necessary to make the premises
habitable, including installing insulation, window repair, door
repair, roof repair, and other repairs;
(6) costs of obtaining services for behavioral, emotional,
and mental health issues, domestic violence issues, child
welfare issues, employment counseling, substance abuse
treatment, or other services;
(7) costs of obtaining housing counseling or advice,
including outreach, mediation, and case management;
(8) costs of obtaining legal assistance relating to
eviction, foreclosure, and other issues relating to a family
retaining its housing;
(9) security deposit payments due; and
(10) other short-term costs the payment of which increase
housing stability for an extremely low-income family or a very
low-income family, including costs for gas, groceries,
automotive repair, public transportation, furniture,
application fees, reunification services, and such other costs
as the Secretary may provide.
(e) Applications.--The Secretary shall require, for a continuum of
care to receive a grant under this section for a fiscal year, that the
continuum of care submit to the Secretary, and the Secretary approve,
an application containing such information as the Secretary considers
necessary to ensure that grant amounts are used in accordance with this
section.
(f) Amount of Grants.--
(1) Allocation.--
(A) Fiscal year 2027.--For fiscal year 2027, any
amounts made available from the Fund for grants under
this section shall be allocated for grants to continua
of care according to the formula established pursuant
to paragraph (2).
(B) Succeeding fiscal years.--For each fiscal year
thereafter, of any amounts made available from the Fund
for grants under this section--
(i) 80 percent shall be allocated for
grants to continua of care according to the
formula established pursuant to paragraph (2);
and
(ii) 20 percent shall be allocated for
grants to continua of care according to a
competition pursuant to paragraph (3).
(2) Formula.--
(A) In general.--The Secretary shall, by
regulation, establish a formula for use to allocate
amounts in the Fund for grants for a fiscal year, in
accordance with paragraph (1), for continua of care
whose applications for such year for such assistance
have been approved pursuant to subsection (e).
(B) Factors.--The formula required by subparagraph
(A) shall be designed to take into consideration, for
the area served by a continuum of care--
(i) the extent of the population that are
extremely low-income families, including the
homeless population that is unsheltered, who
are severely cost-burdened by housing-related
costs, including obligations described in
subsection (d);
(ii) the extent of the population that are
very low-income families; and
(iii) such other factors as the Secretary
may provide.
The Secretary shall determine data to be used for the
factors considered under the formula based on the most
recently conducted Point-In-Time Homeless Count
administered by the Secretary.
(3) Competition.--The Secretary shall, by regulation,
establish a competition for use to allocate amounts in the Fund
for grants for a fiscal year for continua of care pursuant to
paragraph (1)(B)(ii), which shall be based on measurable
criteria that--
(A) to the greatest extent possible, are required
to be collected and reported to the Department of
Housing and Urban Development or any other Federal
agency under other provisions of law already in effect
or otherwise do not impose new burdens on continua of
care;
(B) provide for targeting of assistance made
available under an emergency housing assistance program
to households having the lowest incomes;
(C) encourage the leveraging of other non-Federal
funds for providing assistance under an emergency
housing assistance program;
(D) encourage emergency housing assistance programs
assisted with grants under this section to provide
preventive assistance to avoid homelessness; and
(E) encourage problem-solving and diversion
methods, including the applicant's capacity and
interest in providing innovative delivery of housing
stability interventions and connecting households to
other public benefits that promote housing stability.
(g) Definitions.--For purposes of this Act, the following
definitions shall apply:
(1) Continuum of care.--The term ``continuum of care''
means a collaborative applicant established and operating for a
geographic area for purposes of the Continuum of Care Program
under subtitle C of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11381 et seq.).
(2) Extremely low-income family; very low-income family.--
The terms ``extremely low-income family'' and ``very low-income
family'' have the meanings given such terms in section 3(b) of
the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)).
(3) Fund.--The term ``Fund'' means the Housing
Stabilization Fund established under subsection (a).
(4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development.
(h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated for the Fund $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027
through 2031.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
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