II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4164 

To authorize emergency housing voucher assistance, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 2, 2020 

Mr. BROWN (for himself and Ms. SMITH) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To authorize emergency housing voucher assistance, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Housing 

5 Voucher Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EMERGENCY HOUSING VOUCHER PROGRAM. 

7 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

8 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Housing 

9 and Urban Development (in this section referred to as the 


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1 ‘‘Secretary’’), $10,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2020, to re2 main available until expended, for— 

3 (1) 200,000 incremental emergency housing 

4 vouchers under subsection (b); 

5 (2) renewals of emergency housing vouchers 

6 under subsection (b); and 

7 (3) fees for the costs of administering emer8 gency housing vouchers under subsection (b). 

9 (b) EMERGENCY HOUSING VOUCHERS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 

11 emergency housing vouchers under this subsection, 

12 which shall be tenant-based rental assistance under 

13 section 8(o) the United States Housing Act of 1937 

14 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)). 

15 (2) SELECTION OF FAMILIES.— 

16 (A) PREFERENCES FOR EMERGENCY

17 HOUSING VOUCHERS.—Each public housing 

18 agency administering assistance under this sec19 tion shall provide preference for such assistance 

20 to eligible families that are— 

21 (i) homeless (as such term is defined 

22 in section 103(a) of the McKinney-Vento 

23 Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

24 11302(a)); 


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1 (ii) at risk of homelessness (as such 

2 term is defined in section 401 of the 

3 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act 

4 (42 U.S.C. 11360); or 

5 (iii) fleeing, or attempting to flee, do6 mestic violence, dating violence, sexual as7 sault, or stalking. 

8 (B) ALLOCATION.—In allocating amounts 

9 made available under this section, the Secretary 

10 shall— 

11 (i) not later than 60 days after the 

12 date of the enactment of this Act, allocate 

13 at least 50 percent of such amounts to 

14 public housing agencies in accordance with 

15 a formula that considers— 

16 (I) the capability of public hous17 ing agencies to promptly use emer18 gency housing vouchers provided 

19 under this section; and 

20 (II) the need for emergency hous21 ing vouchers provided under this sec22 tion in the geographical area, based 

23 on factors determined by the Sec24 retary, including risk of transmission 

25 of Coronavirus (COVID–19), high 


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1 numbers or rates of sheltered and 

2 unsheltered homelessness, and eco3 nomic and housing market conditions; 

4 (ii) allocate remaining amounts in ac5 cordance with a formula that considers— 

6 (I) the criteria under clause (i) 

7 and the success of a public housing 

8 agency in promptly utilizing emer9 gency housing vouchers awarded 

10 under clause (i); and 

11 (II) the capability of the public 

12 housing agency to create and manage 

13 structured partnerships with service 

14 providers for the delivery of appro15 priate community-based services; and 

16 (iii) designate the number of emer17 gency housing vouchers under this section 

18 that each public housing agency that is 

19 awarded funds under this section is au20 thorized to administer. 

21 (C) ELECTION NOT TO ADMINISTER.—If a 

22 public housing agency elects not to administer 

23 amounts under this section, the Secretary shall 

24 award such amounts to other public housing 


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1 agencies according to the criteria in subpara2 graph (B). 

3 (D) FAILURE TO USE VOUCHERS PROMPT4 LY.—If a public housing agency fails to issue 

5 all of its authorized emergency housing vouch6 ers under this section on behalf of eligible fami7 lies within a reasonable period of time as deter8 mined by the Secretary, the Secretary shall re9 allocate any unissued emergency housing vouch10 ers and associated funds to others public hous11 ing agencies according to the criteria under 

12 subparagraph (B)(ii). 

13 (3) WAIVERS AND ALTERNATIVE REQUIRE14 MENTS.—Any waiver or alternative requirement that 

15 the Secretary makes available to all public housing 

16 agencies in connection with assistance made avail17 able under the heading ‘‘Tenant-Based Rental As18 sistance’’ in title XII of division B of the CARES 

19 Act (Public Law 116–136; 134 Stat. 601) shall 

20 apply to assistance under this section until the expi21 ration of such waiver or alternative requirement. 

22 (4) TERMINATION OF VOUCHERS UPON TURN23 OVER.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—A public housing agen25 cy may not reissue any emergency housing 


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1 vouchers made available under this section 

2 when assistance for the family initially assisted 

3 is terminated. 

4 (B) REALLOCATION.—Upon termination of 

5 assistance for one or more families assisted by 

6 a public housing agency under this section, the 

7 Secretary shall reallocate amounts that are no 

8 longer needed by such public housing agency 

9 for assistance under this section to another 

10 public housing agency for the renewal of emer11 gency housing vouchers previously authorized 

12 under this section. 

13 (c) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘public 

14 housing agency’’ has the meaning given the term in sec15 tion 3(b)(6) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 

16 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)(6)). 

Æ 


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