I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1725 

To provide emergency assistance for renters to respond to the COVID– 

19 pandemic, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 9, 2021 

Ms. WATERS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To provide emergency assistance for renters 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 Assistance 

5 for Renters Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EMERGENCY RENTAL ASSISTANCE. 

7 (a) FUNDING.— 

8 (1) APPROPRIATION.—In addition to amounts 

9 otherwise available, there is appropriated to the Sec10 retary of the Treasury for fiscal year 2021, out of 


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1 any money in the Treasury not otherwise appro2 priated, $21,550,000,000, to remain available until 

3 September 30, 2027, for making payments to eligi4 ble grantees under this section. 

5 (2) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—Of the amount 

6 appropriated under paragraph (1), the Secretary 

7 shall reserve— 

8 (A) $305,000,000 for making payments 

9 under this section to the Commonwealth of 

10 Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, 

11 Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern 

12 Mariana Islands, and American Samoa; 

13 (B) $30,000,000 for costs of the Secretary 

14 for the administration of emergency rental as15 sistance programs and technical assistance to 

16 recipients of any grants made by the Secretary 

17 to provide financial and other assistance to 

18 renters; 

19 (C) $3,000,000 for administrative expenses 

20 of the Inspector General relating to oversight of 

21 funds provided in this section; and 

22 (D) $2,500,000,000 for payments to high 

23 need grantees as provided in this section. 

24 (b) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS TO ELIGIBLE GRANT25 EES.— 


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1 (1) ALLOCATION FOR STATES AND UNITS OF

2 LOCAL GOVERNMENT.— 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—The amount appro4 priated under paragraph (1) of subsection (a) 

5 that remains after the application of paragraph 

6 (2) of such subsection shall be allocated to eligi7 ble grantees described in subparagraphs (A) 

8 and (B) of subsection (f)(1) in the same man9 ner as the amount appropriated under section 

10 501 of subtitle A of title V of division N of the 

11 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public 

12 Law 116–260) is allocated to States and units 

13 of local government under subsection (b)(1) of 

14 such section, except that section 501(b) of such 

15 subtitle A shall be applied— 

16 (i) without regard to clause (i) of 

17 paragraph (1)(A); 

18 (ii) by deeming the amount appro19 priated under paragraph (1) of subsection 

20 (a) of this Act that remains after the ap21 plication of paragraph (2) of such sub22 section to be the amount deemed to apply 

23 for purposes of applying clause (ii) of sec24 tion 501(b)(1)(A) of such subtitle A; 


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1 (iii) by substituting ‘‘$152,000,000’’ 

2 for ‘‘$200,000,000’’ each place such term 

3 appears; 

4 (iv) in subclause (I) of such section 

5 501(b)(1)(A)(v), by substituting ‘‘under 

6 section 2 of the Emergency Assistance for 

7 Renters Act of 2021’’ for ‘‘under section 

8 501 of subtitle A of title V of division N 

9 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 

10 2021’’; and 

11 (v) in subclause (II) of such section 

12 501(b)(1)(A)(v), by substituting ‘‘local 

13 government elects to receive funds from 

14 the Secretary under section 2 of the Emer15 gency Assistance for Renters Act of 2021 

16 and will use the funds in a manner con17 sistent with such section’’ for ‘‘local gov18 ernment elects to receive funds from the 

19 Secretary under section 501 of subtitle A 

20 of title V of division N of the Consolidated 

21 Appropriations Act, 2021 and will use the 

22 funds in a manner consistent with such 

23 section’’. 

24 (B) PRO RATA ADJUSTMENT.—The Sec25 retary shall make pro rata adjustments in the 


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1 amounts of the allocations determined under 

2 subparagraph (A) of this paragraph for entities 

3 described in such subparagraph as necessary to 

4 ensure that the total amount of allocations 

5 made pursuant to such subparagraph does not 

6 exceed the remainder appropriated amount de7 scribed in such subparagraph. 

8 (2) ALLOCATIONS FOR TERRITORIES.—The 

9 amount reserved under subsection (a)(2)(A) shall be 

10 allocated to eligible grantees described in subsection 

11 (f)(1)(C) in the same manner as the amount appro12 priated under section 501(a)(2)(A) of subtitle A of 

13 title V of division N of the Consolidated Appropria14 tions Act, 2021 (Public Law 116–260) is allocated 

15 under section 501(b)(3) of such subtitle A to eligible 

16 grantees described under subparagraph (C) of such 

17 section 501(b)(3), except that section 501(b)(3) of 

18 such subtitle A shall be applied— 

19 (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘of 

20 section 2 of the Emergency Assistance for 

21 Renters Act of 2021’’ after ‘‘the amount re22 served under subsection (a)(2)(A)’’; and 

23 (B) in clause (i) of subparagraph (B), by 

24 substituting ‘‘the amount equal to 0.3 percent 

25 of the amount appropriated under subsection 


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1 (a)(1)’’ with ‘‘the amount equal to 0.3 percent 

2 of the amount appropriated under subsection 

3 (a)(1) of section 2 of the Emergency Assistance 

4 for Renters Act of 2021’’. 

5 (3) HIGH-NEED GRANTEES.—The Secretary 

6 shall allocate funds reserved under subsection 

7 (a)(2)(D) to eligible grantees with a high need for 

8 assistance under this section, with the number of 

9 very low-income renter households paying more than 

10 50 percent of income on rent or living in sub11 standard or overcrowded conditions, rental market 

12 costs, and change in employment since February 

13 2020 used as the factors for allocating funds. 

14 (c) PAYMENT SCHEDULE.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall pay all 

16 eligible grantees not less than 40 percent of each 

17 such eligible grantee’s total allocation provided 

18 under subsection (b) within 60 days of enactment of 

19 this Act. 

20 (2) SUBSEQUENT PAYMENTS.—The Secretary 

21 shall pay to eligible grantees additional amounts in 

22 tranches up to the full amount of each such eligible 

23 grantee’s total allocation in accordance with a proce24 dure established by the Secretary, provided that any 

25 such procedure established by the Secretary shall reVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:28 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1725.IH H1725

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1 quire that an eligible grantee must have obligated 

2 not less than 75 percent of the funds already dis3 bursed by the Secretary pursuant to this section 

4 prior to disbursement of additional amounts. 

5 (d) USE OF FUNDS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible grantee shall 

7 only use the funds provided from payments made 

8 under this section as follows: 

9 (A) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.— 

10 (i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 

11 (ii) of this subparagraph, funds received by 

12 an eligible grantee from payments made 

13 under this section shall be used to provide 

14 financial assistance to eligible households, 

15 not to exceed 18 months, including the 

16 payment of— 

17 (I) rent; 

18 (II) rental arrears; 

19 (III) utilities and home energy 

20 costs; 

21 (IV) utilities and home energy 

22 costs arrears; and 

23 (V) other expenses related to 

24 housing, as defined by the Secretary. 


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1 (ii) LIMITATION.—The aggregate 

2 amount of financial assistance an eligible 

3 household may receive under this section, 

4 when combined with financial assistance 

5 provided under section 501 of subtitle A of 

6 title V of division N of the Consolidated 

7 Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 

8 116–260), shall not exceed 18 months. 

9 (B) HOUSING STABILITY SERVICES.—Not 

10 more than 10 percent of funds received by an 

11 eligible grantee from payments made under this 

12 section may be used to provide case manage13 ment and other services intended to help keep 

14 households stably housed. 

15 (C) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Not more 

16 than 15 percent of the total amount paid to an 

17 eligible grantee under this section may be used 

18 for administrative costs attributable to pro19 viding financial assistance, housing stability 

20 services, and other affordable rental housing 

21 and eviction prevention activities, including for 

22 data collection and reporting requirements re23 lated to such funds. 

24 (D) OTHER AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUS25 ING AND EVICTION PREVENTION ACTIVITIES.— 


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1 An eligible grantee may use any funds from 

2 payments made under this section that are un3 obligated on October 1, 2022, for purposes in 

4 addition to those specified in this paragraph, 

5 provided that— 

6 (i) such other purposes are affordable 

7 rental housing and eviction prevention pur8 poses, as defined by the Secretary, serving 

9 very low-income families (as such term is 

10 defined in section 3(b) of the United 

11 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 

12 1437a(b))); and 

13 (ii) prior to obligating any funds for 

14 such purposes, the eligible grantee has ob15 ligated not less than 75 percent of the 

16 total funds allocated to such eligible grant17 ee in accordance with this section. 

18 (2) DISTRIBUTION OF ASSISTANCE.—Amounts 

19 appropriated under subsection (a)(1) of this section 

20 shall be subject to the same terms and conditions 

21 that apply under paragraph (4) of section 501(c) of 

22 subtitle A of title V of division N of the Consolidated 

23 Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116–260) to 

24 amounts appropriated under subsection (a)(1) of 

25 such section 501. 


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1 (e) REALLOCATION OF FUNDS.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning March 31, 2022, 

3 the Secretary shall reallocate funds allocated to eligi4 ble grantees in accordance with subsection (b) but 

5 not yet paid in accordance with subsection (c)(2) ac6 cording to a procedure established by the Secretary. 

7 (2) ELIGIBILITY FOR REALLOCATED FUNDS.— 

8 The Secretary shall require an eligible grantee to 

9 have obligated 50 percent of the total amount of 

10 funds allocated to such eligible grantee under sub11 section (b) to be eligible to receive funds reallocated 

12 under paragraph (1) of this subsection. 

13 (3) PAYMENT OF REALLOCATED FUNDS BY THE

14 SECRETARY.—The Secretary shall pay to each eligi15 ble grantee eligible for a payment of reallocated 

16 funds described in paragraph (2) of this subsection 

17 the amount allocated to such eligible grantee in ac18 cordance with the procedure established by the Sec19 retary in accordance with paragraph (1) of this sub20 section. 

21 (4) USE OF REALLOCATED FUNDS.—Eligible 

22 grantees may use any funds received in accordance 

23 with this subsection only for purposes specified in 

24 paragraph (1) of subsection (d). 

25 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) ELIGIBLE GRANTEE.—The term ‘‘eligible 

2 grantee’’ means any of the following: 

3 (A) The 50 States of the United States 

4 and the District of Columbia. 

5 (B) A unit of local government (as defined 

6 in paragraph (5)). 

7 (C) The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 

8 the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, the 

9 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is10 lands, and American Samoa. 

11 (2) ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLD.—The term ‘‘eligible 

12 household’’ means a household of 1 or more individ13 uals who are obligated to pay rent on a residential 

14 dwelling and with respect to which the eligible grant15 ee involved determines that— 

16 (A) 1 or more individuals within the house17 hold has— 

18 (i) qualified for unemployment bene19 fits; or 

20 (ii) experienced a reduction in house21 hold income, incurred significant costs, or 

22 experienced other financial hardship during 

23 or due, directly or indirectly, to the 

24 coronavirus pandemic; 


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1 (B) 1 or more individuals within the 

2 household can demonstrate a risk of experi3 encing homelessness or housing instability; and 

4 (C) the household is a low-income family 

5 (as such term is defined in section 3(b) of the 

6 United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 

7 1437a(b)). 

8 (3) INSPECTOR GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Inspec9 tor General’’ means the Inspector General of the De10 partment of the Treasury. 

11 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

12 the Secretary of the Treasury. 

13 (5) UNIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term 

14 ‘‘unit of local government’’ has the meaning given 

15 such term in section 501 of subtitle A of title V of 

16 division N of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 

17 2021 (Public Law 116–260). 

18 (g) AVAILABILITY.—Funds provided to an eligible 

19 grantee under a payment made under this section shall 

20 remain available through September 30, 2025. 

21 (h) EXTENSION OF AVAILABILITY UNDER PROGRAM

22 FOR EXISTING FUNDING.—Paragraph (1) of section 

23 501(e) of subtitle A of title V of division N of the Consoli24 dated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116–260) is 


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1 amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 2021’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘September 30, 2022’’. 

Æ 


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