I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1706 

To provide emergency homelessness assistance to respond to the COVID19 pandemic, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 9, 2021 

Ms. PRESSLEY (for herself, Ms. WATERS, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. NEGUSE, and Ms. 

OCASIO-CORTEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To provide emergency homelessness assistance to respond 

to the COVID-19 pandemic, 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 Homeless5 ness Assistance Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. HOMELESSNESS ASSISTANCE AND SUPPORTIVE 

7 SERVICES PROGRAM. 

8 (a) APPROPRIATION.—In addition to amounts other9 wise made available, out of any money in the Treasury 

10 not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated for fisVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1706.IH H1706

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1 cal year 2021, $5,000,000,000, as authorized under title 

2 II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing 

3 Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 12721 et seq.), to remain 

4 available until September 30, 2025, except that amounts 

5 authorized under subsection (d)(3) shall remain available 

6 until September 30, 2029, for the following activities to 

7 primarily benefit qualifying individuals or families: 

8 (1) Tenant-based rental assistance. 

9 (2) The development and support of affordable 

10 housing pursuant to section 212(a) of the Cranston11 Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 

12 U.S.C. 12742(a)) (‘‘the Act’’ herein). 

13 (3) Supportive services to qualifying individuals 

14 or families not already receiving such supportive 

15 services, including— 

16 (A) activities listed in section 401(29) of 

17 the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act 

18 (42 U.S.C. 11360(29)); 

19 (B) housing counseling; and 

20 (C) homeless prevention services. 

21 (4) The acquisition and development of non22 congregate shelter units, all or a portion of which 

23 may— 

24 (A) be converted to permanent affordable 

25 housing; 


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1 (B) be used as emergency shelter under 

2 subtitle B of title IV of the McKinney-Vento 

3 Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11371– 

4 11378); 

5 (C) be converted to permanent housing 

6 under subtitle C of title IV of the McKinney7 Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

8 11381–11389); or 

9 (D) remain as non-congregate shelter 

10 units. 

11 (b) QUALIFYING INDIVIDUALS OR FAMILIES DE12 FINED.—For the purposes of this section, qualifying indi13 viduals or families are those who are— 

14 (1) homeless, as defined in section 103(a) of 

15 the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 

16 U.S.C. 11302(a)); 

17 (2) at-risk of homelessness, as defined in sec18 tion 401(1) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assist19 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360(1)); 

20 (3) fleeing, or attempting to flee, domestic vio21 lence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or 

22 human trafficking; 

23 (4) in other populations where providing sup24 portive services or assistance under section 212(a) of 

25 the Act (42 U.S.C. 12742(a)) would prevent the 


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1 family’s homelessness or would serve those with the 

2 greatest risk of housing instability; or 

3 (5) veterans and families that include a veteran 

4 family member that meet one of the preceding cri5 teria. 

6 (c) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.— 

7 (1) FUNDING RESTRICTIONS.—The cost limits 

8 in section 212(e) (42 U.S.C. 12742(e)), the commit9 ment requirements in section 218(g) (42 U.S.C. 

10 12749(g)), the matching requirements in section 220 

11 (42 U.S.C. 12750), and the set-aside for housing de12 veloped, sponsored, or owned by community housing 

13 development organizations required in section 231 of 

14 the Act (42 U.S.C. 12771) shall not apply for 

15 amounts made available in this section. 

16 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Notwithstanding 

17 sections 212(c) and (d)(1) of the Act (42 U.S.C. 

18 12742(c) and (d)(1)), of the funds made available in 

19 this section for carrying out activities authorized in 

20 this section, a grantee may use up to fifteen percent 

21 of its allocation for administrative and planning 

22 costs. 

23 (3) OPERATING EXPENSES.—Notwithstanding 

24 sections 212(a) and (g) of the Act (42 U.S.C. 

25 12742(a) and (g)), a grantee may use up to an addiVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:44 May 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1706.IH H1706

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1 tional five percent of its allocation for the payment 

2 of operating expenses of community housing develop3 ment organizations and nonprofit organizations car4 rying out activities authorized under this section, 

5 but only if— 

6 (A) such funds are used to develop the ca7 pacity of the community housing development 

8 organization or nonprofit organization in the ju9 risdiction or insular area to carry out activities 

10 authorized under this section; and 

11 (B) the community housing development 

12 organization or nonprofit organization complies 

13 with the limitation on assistance in section 

14 234(b) of the Act (42 U.S.C. 12774(b)). 

15 (d) ALLOCATION.— 

16 (1) FORMULA ASSISTANCE.—Except as pro17 vided in paragraphs (2) and (3), amounts made 

18 available under this section shall be allocated pursu19 ant to section 217 of the Act (42 U.S.C. 12746) to 

20 grantees that received allocations pursuant to that 

21 same formula in fiscal year 2021, and such alloca22 tions shall be made within 30 days of enactment of 

23 this Act. 

24 (2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Up to 

25 $25,000,000 of the amounts made available under 


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1 this section shall be used, without competition, to 

2 make new awards or increase prior awards to exist3 ing technical assistance providers to provide an im4 mediate increase in capacity building and technical 

5 assistance available to any grantees implementing 

6 activities or projects consistent with this section. 

7 (3) OTHER COSTS.—Up to $50,000,000 of the 

8 amounts made available under this section shall be 

9 used for the administrative costs to oversee and ad10 minister implementation of this section and the 

11 HOME program generally, including information 

12 technology, financial reporting, and other costs. 

13 (4) WAIVERS.—Any provision of any statute or 

14 regulation used to administer the amounts made 

15 available under this section (except for requirements 

16 related to fair housing, nondiscrimination, labor 

17 standards, and the environment), may be waived 

18 upon a finding that any such waivers or alternative 

19 requirements are necessary to expedite or facilitate 

20 the use of amounts made available in this section. 

Æ 


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