II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2230 

To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to improve 

services for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, 

or stalking. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 14, 2017 

Mr. CORNYN (for himself and Ms. HEITKAMP) introduced the following bill; 

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

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 

to improve services for survivors of domestic violence, 

dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. 

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 ‘‘Help End Abusive Liv5 ing Situations Act’’ or the ‘‘HEALS Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 

8 (1) the term ‘‘domestic violence project’’ means 

9 a project administered by a victim service provider 


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1 designed to meet the needs of survivors of domestic 

2 violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking; 

3 (2) the term ‘‘homeless’’ has the meaning given 

4 the term in section 103 of the McKinney-Vento 

5 Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11302); 

6 (3) the terms ‘‘homeless individual with a dis7 ability’’, ‘‘permanent housing’’, ‘‘tenant-based’’, 

8 ‘‘transitional housing’’, and ‘‘victim service provider’’ 

9 have the meanings given those terms in section 401 

10 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 

11 U.S.C. 11360); 

12 (4) the term ‘‘rapid re-housing project’’ means 

13 supportive services and short- or medium-term ten14 ant-based rental assistance, as necessary, to help a 

15 homeless individual or family, with or without a dis16 ability, move as soon as possible into permanent 

17 housing and achieve stability in that housing; and 

18 (5) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

19 of Housing and Urban Development. 

20 SEC. 3. STRENGTHENING HOUSING RESOURCES PROTEC21 TIONS FOR VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIO22 LENCE, DATING VIOLENCE, SEXUAL ASSAULT, 

23 AND STALKING. 

24 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

25 of this Act, the Secretary shall take the following measures 


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1 to improve services provided to survivors of domestic vio2 lence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking: 

3 (1) EQUAL CONSIDERATION.—For purposes of 

4 scoring applicants in the notice of funding avail5 ability for the Continuum of Care program author6 ized under subtitle C of title IV of the McKinney7 Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11381 et 

8 seq.) in any fiscal year, the Secretary shall give 

9 equal consideration to— 

10 (A) rapid re-housing projects; 

11 (B) projects that provide permanent sup12 portive housing; and 

13 (C) domestic violence projects that maxi14 mize client choice, including transitional hous15 ing that provide services and help participants 

16 to secure permanent housing. 

17 (2) TRANSITIONAL HOUSING PROJECTS.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall au19 thorize any defunded transitional housing 

20 project to reapply for funding. 

21 (B) TREATMENT AS RAPID RE-HOUSING

22 PROJECT.—The Secretary shall consider a pro23 gram receiving funds under section 40299 of 

24 the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (34 


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1 U.S.C. 12351) to be a rapid re-housing project 

2 if the program— 

3 (i) provides not less than 6 months of 

4 housing assistance to survivors; and 

5 (ii) meets other criteria established by 

6 the Secretary. 

7 (3) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall de8 velop— 

9 (A) measurable criteria upon which appli10 cants are evaluated to demonstrate their col11 laboration with victim service providers to de12 velop local policy priorities focused on survivors 

13 of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual as14 sault, or stalking, including survivor-centered 

15 coordinated entry processes that appropriately 

16 assess and prioritize those survivors and take 

17 into account the safety and confidentiality 

18 needs of those survivors; and 

19 (B) mechanisms that promote the provi20 sion of technical assistance and support for pro21 grams to improve outcomes instead of reallo22 cating or not awarding funds. 

23 (4) RESEARCH AGENDA.—The Secretary shall 

24 develop a research agenda that focuses on survivors 

25 of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, 


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1 and stalking and the housing modalities that best 

2 support them, especially the critical safety concerns 

3 and the link between trauma and residential sta4 bility. 

5 SEC. 4. INCREASING ACCESS TO SAFE HOUSING FOR SUR6 VIVORS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DATING VI7 OLENCE, SEXUAL ASSAULT, AND STALKING. 

8 Section 427(b)(1) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 

9 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11386a(b)(1)) is amended— 

10 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 

11 (A) by redesignating clauses (vii) and (viii) 

12 as clauses (viii) and (ix), respectively; and 

13 (B) by inserting after clause (vi) the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(vii) success in addressing the safety 

16 needs of homeless survivors of domestic vi17 olence, dating violence, sexual assault, and 

18 stalking;’’; 

19 (2) in subparagraph (B)— 

20 (A) in clause (iv)(VI), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

21 the end; 

22 (B) by redesignating clause (v) as clause 

23 (vi); and 

24 (C) by inserting after clause (iv)(VI) the 

25 following: 


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1 ‘‘(v) how the recipient will measure 

2 the success of the victim service providers 

3 in meeting the housing, safety, and trauma 

4 needs of victims of domestic violence, dat5 ing violence, sexual assault, or stalking, 

6 with an explanation of how the recipient 

7 will allow flexibility on other metrics that 

8 may be impacted by the needs of survivors; 

9 and’’; 

10 (3) in subparagraph (F)(ii), by striking ‘‘, and’’ 

11 at the end; 

12 (4) by redesignating subparagraph (G) as sub13 paragraph (H); and 

14 (5) by inserting after subparagraph (F) the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(G) success of the recipient in meeting 

17 the housing, safety, and trauma needs of sur18 vivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sex19 ual assault, or stalking, including access to safe 

20 housing; and’’. 

21 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

22 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

23 of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a re24 port on— 


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1 (1) the trends in allocating resources to address 

2 the housing needs of survivors of domestic violence, 

3 dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking; and 

4 (2) the increase in the allocation of resources 

5 for domestic violence projects beginning after the 

6 date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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