I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8674 

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 

OCTOBER 23, 2020 

Mr. TED LIEU of California 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. 

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 ‘‘Prevent Homelessness 

5 Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. HOUSING STABILIZATION FUND. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Housing 

8 and Urban Development, acting through the Office of Spe9 cial Needs Assistance Programs of the Office of CommuVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:55 Nov 13, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8674.IH H8674

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1 nity Planning and Development, shall establish and ad2 minister a fund to be known as the Housing Stabilization 

3 Fund. 

4 (b) GRANTS.—Amounts in the Fund shall be avail5 able, to the extent provided in advance in appropriations 

6 Acts, only for making annual grants under this section, 

7 in the amount determined pursuant to subsection (f), to 

8 continua of care to provide short-term assistance under 

9 emergency housing assistance programs that the Secretary 

10 determines, pursuant to applications under subsection (e), 

11 meet the requirements of subsection (c). 

12 (c) EMERGENCY HOUSING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

13 REQUIREMENTS.—An emergency housing assistance pro14 gram shall be considered to meet the requirements of this 

15 subsection only if the program— 

16 (1) is carried out by a continuum of care or 

17 other agency, organization, or entity selected by a 

18 continuum of care; 

19 (2) operates within the geographical area served 

20 by the continuum of care; 

21 (3) provides financial assistance only on behalf 

22 of extremely low-income families who— 

23 (A) are unable to meet housing-related ob24 ligations (as described in subsection (d) of this 

25 section) due to a financial hardship, which shall 


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1 include the situations described in clause (i) of 

2 section 3(a)(3)(B) of the United States Hous3 ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(a)(3)(B)(i)), 

4 a family or health crisis, unexpected expenses, 

5 unsafe or unhealthy living conditions, and such 

6 other situations as the Secretary may provide; 

7 and 

8 (B) provide evidence of such inability to 

9 meet housing related obligations, which may in10 clude past-due utilities or rent notices, eviction 

11 notices, and such other evidence as the Sec12 retary may provide, except that a continuum of 

13 care may, in consultation with the Secretary, 

14 provide for additional manners of identifying in15 ability to meet housing related obligations in 

16 situations in which such notices are not avail17 able; 

18 (4) provides for coordination with any local 

19 homeless prioritization criteria, including the Coordi20 nated Entry System or any other evidence-based 

21 analytic targeting tool, applicable within the area in 

22 which the program will be carried out, in accordance 

23 with such requirements as the Secretary shall pro24 vide; and 


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1 (5) meets such other requirements as the Sec2 retary may establish. 

3 (d) ELIGIBLE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—Amounts 

4 from grants under this section for an emergency housing 

5 assistance program shall be used to provide financial as6 sistance only to meet housing-related obligations, includ7 ing— 

8 (1) rent due, including amounts past due, ex9 cept that such assistance may not— 

10 (A) be provided for a family for more than 

11 8 months (whether consecutive or not) within 

12 the preceding 12 months; and 

13 (B) may not exceed on a monthly basis the 

14 amount that the Secretary determines is rea15 sonable in comparison with rents charged for 

16 comparable dwelling units located in the same 

17 area in the private, unassisted local market; 

18 (2) mortgage payments due, including amounts 

19 past due, except that such assistance may not be 

20 provided for a household for more than 8 months 

21 (whether consecutive or not) within the preceding 12 

22 months and may not exceed on a monthly basis such 

23 amount as the Secretary shall determine; 

24 (3) utility payments due, including amounts 

25 past due; 


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1 (4) housing repairs necessary to make the 

2 premises habitable, including installing insulation, 

3 window repair, door repair, roof repair, and other re4 pairs; 

5 (5) costs of obtaining services for behavioral, 

6 emotional, and mental health issues, domestic vio7 lence issues, child welfare issues, employment coun8 seling, substance abuse treatment, or other services; 

9 (6) costs of obtaining housing counseling or ad10 vice, including outreach, mediation, and case man11 agement; 

12 (7) costs of obtaining legal assistance relating 

13 to eviction, foreclosure, and other issues relating to 

14 a family retaining its housing; and 

15 (8) other short-term costs the payment of which 

16 increase housing stability for an extremely low-in17 come family, including costs for gas, groceries, auto18 motive repair, public transportation, furniture, appli19 cation fees, reunification services, and such other 

20 costs as the Secretary may provide. 

21 (e) APPLICATIONS.—The Secretary shall require, for 

22 a continuum of care to receive a grant under this section 

23 for a fiscal year, that the continuum of care submit to 

24 the Secretary, and the Secretary approve, an application 

25 containing such information as the Secretary considers 


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1 necessary to ensure that grant amounts are used in ac2 cordance with this section. 

3 (f) AMOUNT OF GRANTS.— 

4 (1) ALLOCATION.— 

5 (A) FISCAL YEAR 2021.—For fiscal year 

6 2021, any amounts made available from the 

7 Fund for grants under this section shall be allo8 cated for grants to continua of care according 

9 to the formula established pursuant to para10 graph (2). 

11 (B) SUCCEEDING FISCAL YEARS.—For 

12 each fiscal year thereafter, of any amounts 

13 made available from the Fund for grants under 

14 this section— 

15 (i) 80 percent shall be allocated for 

16 grants to continua of care according to the 

17 formula established pursuant to paragraph 

18 (2); and 

19 (ii) 20 percent shall be allocated for 

20 grants to continua of care according to a 

21 competition pursuant to paragraph (3). 

22 (2) FORMULA.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, by 

24 regulation, establish a formula for use to allo25 cate amounts in the Fund for grants for a fiscal 


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1 year, in accordance with paragraph (1), for 

2 continua of care whose applications for such 

3 year for such assistance have been approved 

4 pursuant to subsection (e). 

5 (B) FACTORS.—The formula required by 

6 subparagraph (A) shall be designed to take into 

7 consideration, for the area served by a con8 tinuum of care— 

9 (i) the extent of the population that 

10 are extremely low-income families, includ11 ing the homeless population that is 

12 unsheltered, who are severely cost-bur13 dened by housing-related costs, including 

14 obligations described in subsection (d); and 

15 (ii) such other factors as the Sec16 retary may provide. 

17 The Secretary shall determine data to be used 

18 for the factors considered under the formula 

19 based on the most recently conducted Point-In20 Time Homeless Count administered by the Sec21 retary. 

22 (3) COMPETITION.—The Secretary shall, by 

23 regulation, establish a competition for use to allocate 

24 amounts in the Fund for grants for a fiscal year for 


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1 continua of care pursuant to paragraph (1)(B)(ii), 

2 which shall be based on measurable criteria that— 

3 (A) to the greatest extent possible, are re4 quired to be collected and reported to the De5 partment of Housing and Urban Development 

6 or any other Federal agency under other provi7 sions of law already in effect or otherwise do 

8 not impose new burdens on continua of care; 

9 (B) provide for targeting of assistance 

10 made available under an emergency housing as11 sistance program to households having the low12 est incomes; 

13 (C) encourage the leveraging of other non14 Federal funds for providing assistance under an 

15 emergency housing assistance program; 

16 (D) encourage emergency housing assist17 ance programs assisted with grants under this 

18 section to provide preventive assistance to avoid 

19 homelessness; and 

20 (E) encourage problem-solving and diver21 sion methods, including the applicant’s capacity 

22 and interest in providing innovative delivery of 

23 housing stability interventions and connecting 

24 households to other public benefits that pro25 mote housing stability. 


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1 (g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act, the fol2 lowing definitions shall apply: 

3 (1) CONTINUUM OF CARE.—The term ‘‘con4 tinuum of care’’ means a collaborative applicant es5 tablished and operating for a geographic area for 

6 purposes of the Continuum of Care Program under 

7 subtitle C of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Home8 less Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11381 et seq.). 

9 (2) FUND.—The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the 

10 Housing Stabilization Fund established under sub11 section (a). 

12 (3) EXTREMELY LOW-INCOME FAMILY.—The 

13 term ‘‘extremely low-income family’’ has the mean14 ing given such term in section 3(b) of the United 

15 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 

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

17 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 

18 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

19 authorized to be appropriated for the Fund $100,000,000 

20 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025. 

Æ 


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