II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2486 

To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to award 

grants for landlord-tenant mediation programs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 

Ms. HASSAN (for herself, Mr. KAINE, and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to award grants for landlord-tenant mediation programs. 

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 Evictions Act 

5 of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) COVERED GRANT.—The term ‘‘covered 

2 grant’’ means an implementation grant or program 

3 expansion grant. 

4 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti5 ty’’ means a State or a court thereof, a political sub6 division of a State or a court thereof, a Tribal gov7 ernment, or any other appropriate public or non8 profit entity as determined by the Secretary, that is 

9 formulating or carrying out a program that pri10 marily involves meditation between landlords and 

11 tenants. 

12 (3) IMPLEMENTATION GRANT.—The term ‘‘im13 plementation grant’’ means a grant awarded under 

14 section 5(b). 

15 (4) PROGRAM EXPANSION GRANT.—The term 

16 ‘‘program expansion grant’’ means a grant awarded 

17 under section 5(c). 

18 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

19 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 

20 (6) SMALL-DOLLAR EVICTION.—The term 

21 ‘‘small-dollar eviction’’ means an eviction resulting 

22 from an eviction case brought against a tenant for 

23 nonpayment of rent in which the unpaid amount is 

24 less than 1 month’s rent. 


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1 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Landlords often make their largest profit 

4 margins in low-income neighborhoods. This is in 

5 part due to the difference between the perceived risk 

6 of low-income tenants defaulting on their rent and 

7 the actual risk. 

8 (2) A significant proportion of eviction money 

9 judgments—in some jurisdictions, potentially more 

10 than 40 percent—are for less than 1 month’s rent, 

11 based on median rent per census tract. 

12 (3) According to the book ‘‘Evicted: Poverty 

13 and Profit in the American City’’ by Matthew 

14 Desmond, families and individuals who are evicted 

15 are more likely to experience a decline in mental and 

16 physical health, have poor attendance in school, and 

17 have more trouble holding a job. 

18 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

19 It is the sense of Congress that— 

20 (1) landlord-tenant mediation is a valuable and 

21 cost-effective way to keep tenants in their homes, 

22 and more investment in that type of mediation is 

23 warranted; 

24 (2) there is a lack of research on the potential 

25 for certain types of insurance to be cost-effective 


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1 interventions that keep tenants in their homes, 

2 which warrants future study; 

3 (3) eviction should be a last resort; and 

4 (4) reducing the number of small-dollar evic5 tions will produce a substantial return on investment 

6 for individuals and families and for society as a 

7 whole. 

8 SEC. 5. LANDLORD-TENANT MEDIATION COMPETITIVE 

9 GRANT PROGRAM. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award com11 petitive grants under subsections (b) and (c) to eligible 

12 entities to assist those entities in establishing and admin13 istering, or continuing, landlord-tenant mediation pro14 grams. 

15 (b) IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 

17 competitive grants to eligible entities to assist the 

18 entities in establishing and administering landlord19 tenant mediation programs. 

20 (2) TERM.—The term of an implementation 

21 grant shall be 2 years. 

22 (3) AMOUNT.—The amount of an implementa23 tion grant shall be not more than $1,500,000. 

24 (4) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity may use 

25 an implementation grant to establish— 


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1 (A) a statewide mediation program; or 

2 (B) a mediation program in a political sub3 division of a State or in the jurisdiction of an 

4 Indian Tribe that demonstrates a high need for 

5 such a program due to— 

6 (i) the rate of evictions in the political 

7 subdivision or Tribal jurisdiction; or 

8 (ii) other characteristics of the polit9 ical subdivision or Indian Tribe that con10 tribute to the rate of evictions in the polit11 ical subdivision or Tribal jurisdiction. 

12 (5) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of 

13 the cost of a mediation program established using an 

14 implementation grant may not exceed 50 percent. 

15 (c) PROGRAM EXPANSION GRANTS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 

17 competitive grants to eligible entities to assist the 

18 entities in continuing activities related to landlord19 tenant mediation. 

20 (2) TERM.—The term of a program expansion 

21 grant shall be 3 years. 

22 (3) AMOUNT.—The amount of a program ex23 pansion grant shall be not more than $1,000,000. 

24 (4) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—Amounts 

25 made available to an eligible entity under a program 


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1 expansion grant shall be used to supplement, and 

2 not supplant, contributions made by the eligible enti3 ty for existing landlord-tenant mediation activities. 

4 (d) GENERAL RULES FOR COVERED GRANTS.— 

5 (1) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity may use 

6 a covered grant to pay for operating costs, staff sal7 aries, mediator compensation, information tech8 nology, interpreters, outreach services, and recruit9 ment. 

10 (2) GOOD FAITH PARTICIPATION.—An eligible 

11 entity that receives a covered grant shall encourage 

12 each party participating in the landlord-tenant medi13 ation program funded by the grant to make a good 

14 faith effort to discuss potential resolutions. 

15 (3) GEOGRAPHIC AND POPULATION DIVER16 SITY.—The Secretary shall ensure, to the maximum 

17 extent practicable, that recipients of covered grants 

18 represent— 

19 (A) diverse geographical areas of the 

20 United States; and 

21 (B) States, political subdivisions of States, 

22 and Indian Tribes of varying population sizes. 

23 (4) FREE TO TENANTS.—A tenant may not be 

24 charged for participating in landlord-tenant medi25 ation funded by a covered grant. 


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1 (e) OVERSIGHT REQUIREMENTS.—For each year of 

2 a covered grant received by an eligible entity, the eligible 

3 entity shall submit to the Secretary a report that— 

4 (1) describes how the eligible entity used the 

5 grant funds during that year; and 

6 (2) includes any performance data, relating to 

7 programs funded by the covered grant, that the eli8 gible entity submitted to a State or political subdivi9 sion thereof, if applicable. 

10 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

11 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

12 such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2020 and 

13 each fiscal year thereafter. 

14 SEC. 6. STUDY AND DEMONSTRATION OF EVICTION-PRE15 VENTING INSURANCE MODELS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 

17 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

18 study, and submit to Congress a report on— 

19 (1) insurance models designed to reduce evic20 tions or expand access to rental opportunities for 

21 tenants, such as rental payment insurance; 

22 (2) the cost of various insurance models de23 scribed in paragraph (1); and 


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1 (3) the effects of various insurance models de2 scribed in paragraph (1) on tenants, landlords, and 

3 housing markets. 

4 (b) OBJECTIVES.—In conducting the study under 

5 subsection (a), the Secretary shall seek to— 

6 (1) better understand insurance models de7 scribed in that subsection that are not widely avail8 able in the United States; 

9 (2) assess the viability of the insurance models 

10 in United States markets and how the insurance 

11 models could be implemented through private, pub12 lic, or subsidized programs; 

13 (3) determine whether insurance models in 

14 which the insurance policy is purchased by the ten15 ant, the landlord, or a public entity would be most 

16 effective in achieving the objectives under this sub17 section; 

18 (4) study any existing relevant insurance pro19 grams and the effectiveness of those programs, both 

20 domestically and internationally; 

21 (5) study how Federal mortgage insurance pro22 grams could help inform the structure or breadth of 

23 the insurance models; 


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1 (6) study how the insurance models could be 

2 structured in order to best prevent evictions, par3 ticularly small-dollar evictions; 

4 (7) study how to structure the insurance models 

5 in order to prevent moral hazard; 

6 (8) study the potential for the insurance models 

7 to serve as a bridge for tenants between— 

8 (A) participating in more cost-intensive, 

9 longer-term housing programs, such as public 

10 housing under the United States Housing Act 

11 of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.) or rental as12 sistance under section 8 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 

13 1437f); and 

14 (B) leaving the programs described in sub15 paragraph (A) entirely; 

16 (9) study how the insurance models could be 

17 tailored to target or benefit lower-income families or 

18 vulnerable renters; and 

19 (10) study the extent to which the insurance 

20 models could be paired with landlord-tenant medi21 ation efforts. 

22 (c) RESULTS OF STUDY.— 

23 (1) REPORT.—The Secretary shall include in 

24 the report under subsection (a)— 


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1 (A) a description of any insurance models 

2 that— 

3 (i) have the strongest potential to 

4 achieve the objectives under subsection (b); 

5 and 

6 (ii) could be tested through a dem7 onstration project; and 

8 (B) a proposal for a demonstration project 

9 to test the most promising insurance model de10 scribed in subparagraph (A). 

11 (2) DEMONSTRATION PROJECT PRIORITY FOR

12 GRANT RECIPIENTS.—In selecting the jurisdiction in 

13 which to conduct the demonstration project proposed 

14 under paragraph (1)(B), the Secretary shall give pri15 ority to jurisdictions served by a recipient of a cov16 ered grant. 

17 (3) BUDGET REQUEST.—After submitting the 

18 report under subsection (a), the Secretary shall in19 clude in the first annual budget request that the 

20 Secretary submits to Congress under section 1105 of 

21 title 31, United States Code, a request for funds for 

22 the demonstration proposal described in paragraph 

23 (1)(B). 

Æ 


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