I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5277 

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 

AUGUST 25, 2023 

Mr. LIEU (for himself, Ms. CROCKETT, Mr. MULLIN, and Mr. JACKSON of Illinois) 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 2023’’. 

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 01:00 Aug 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5277.IH H5277

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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 and very low-in23 come families who— 

24 (A) are unable to meet housing-related ob25 ligations (as described in subsection (d) of this 


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1 section) due to a financial hardship, which shall 

2 include the situations described in clause (i) of 

3 section 3(a)(3)(B) of the United States Hous4 ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(a)(3)(B)(i)), 

5 a family or health crisis, unexpected expenses, 

6 unsafe or unhealthy living conditions, and such 

7 other situations as the Secretary may provide; 

8 and 

9 (B) provide evidence of such inability to 

10 meet housing related obligations, which may in11 clude past-due utilities or rent notices, eviction 

12 notices, and such other evidence as the Sec13 retary may provide, except that a continuum of 

14 care may, in consultation with the Secretary, 

15 provide for additional manners of identifying in16 ability to meet housing related obligations in 

17 situations in which such notices are not avail18 able; 

19 (4) provides for coordination with any local 

20 homeless prioritization criteria, including the Coordi21 nated Entry System or any other evidence-based 

22 analytic targeting tool, applicable within the area in 

23 which the program will be carried out, in accordance 

24 with such requirements as the Secretary shall pro25 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) prospective rent due, except that such as9 sistance 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; or 

13 (B) exceed on a monthly basis the amount 

14 that the Secretary determines is reasonable in 

15 comparison with rents charged for comparable 

16 dwelling units located in the same area in the 

17 private, unassisted local market; 

18 (2) rental arrears, with payments based on ac19 tual rent amount due; 

20 (3) mortgage payments due, including amounts 

21 past due, except that such assistance may not be 

22 provided for a household for more than 8 months 

23 (whether consecutive or not) within the preceding 12 

24 months and may not exceed on a monthly basis such 

25 amount as the Secretary shall determine; 


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1 (4) utility payments due, including amounts 

2 past due; 

3 (5) housing repairs necessary to make the 

4 premises habitable, including installing insulation, 

5 window repair, door repair, roof repair, and other re6 pairs; 

7 (6) costs of obtaining services for behavioral, 

8 emotional, and mental health issues, domestic vio9 lence issues, child welfare issues, employment coun10 seling, substance abuse treatment, or other services; 

11 (7) costs of obtaining housing counseling or ad12 vice, including outreach, mediation, and case man13 agement; 

14 (8) costs of obtaining legal assistance relating 

15 to eviction, foreclosure, and other issues relating to 

16 a family retaining its housing; 

17 (9) security deposit payments due; and 

18 (10) other short-term costs the payment of 

19 which increase housing stability for an extremely 

20 low-income family or a very low-income family, in21 cluding costs for gas, groceries, automotive repair, 

22 public transportation, furniture, application fees, re23 unification services, and such other costs as the Sec24 retary may provide. 


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

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

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

4 the Secretary, and the Secretary approve, an application 

5 containing such information as the Secretary considers 

6 necessary to ensure that grant amounts are used in ac7 cordance with this section. 

8 (f) AMOUNT OF GRANTS.— 

9 (1) ALLOCATION.— 

10 (A) FISCAL YEAR 2025.—For fiscal year 

11 2025, any amounts made available from the 

12 Fund for grants under this section shall be allo13 cated for grants to continua of care according 

14 to the formula established pursuant to para15 graph (2). 

16 (B) SUCCEEDING FISCAL YEARS.—For 

17 each fiscal year thereafter, of any amounts 

18 made available from the Fund for grants under 

19 this section— 

20 (i) 80 percent shall be allocated for 

21 grants to continua of care according to the 

22 formula established pursuant to paragraph 

23 (2); and 


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1 (ii) 20 percent shall be allocated for 

2 grants to continua of care according to a 

3 competition pursuant to paragraph (3). 

4 (2) FORMULA.— 

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

6 regulation, establish a formula for use to allo7 cate amounts in the Fund for grants for a fiscal 

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

9 continua of care whose applications for such 

10 year for such assistance have been approved 

11 pursuant to subsection (e). 

12 (B) FACTORS.—The formula required by 

13 subparagraph (A) shall be designed to take into 

14 consideration, for the area served by a con15 tinuum of care— 

16 (i) the extent of the population that 

17 are extremely low-income families, includ18 ing the homeless population that is 

19 unsheltered, who are severely cost-bur20 dened by housing-related costs, including 

21 obligations described in subsection (d); 

22 (ii) the extent of the population that 

23 are very low-income families; and 

24 (iii) such other factors as the Sec25 retary may provide. 


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1 The Secretary shall determine data to be used 

2 for the factors considered under the formula 

3 based on the most recently conducted Point-In4 Time Homeless Count administered by the Sec5 retary. 

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

7 regulation, establish a competition for use to allocate 

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

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

10 which shall be based on measurable criteria that— 

11 (A) to the greatest extent possible, are re12 quired to be collected and reported to the De13 partment of Housing and Urban Development 

14 or any other Federal agency under other provi15 sions of law already in effect or otherwise do 

16 not impose new burdens on continua of care; 

17 (B) provide for targeting of assistance 

18 made available under an emergency housing as19 sistance program to households having the low20 est incomes; 

21 (C) encourage the leveraging of other non22 Federal funds for providing assistance under an 

23 emergency housing assistance program; 

24 (D) encourage emergency housing assist25 ance programs assisted with grants under this 


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1 section to provide preventive assistance to avoid 

2 homelessness; and 

3 (E) encourage problem-solving and diver4 sion methods, including the applicant’s capacity 

5 and interest in providing innovative delivery of 

6 housing stability interventions and connecting 

7 households to other public benefits that pro8 mote housing stability. 

9 (g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act, the fol10 lowing definitions shall apply: 

11 (1) CONTINUUM OF CARE.—The term ‘‘con12 tinuum of care’’ means a collaborative applicant es13 tablished and operating for a geographic area for 

14 purposes of the Continuum of Care Program under 

15 subtitle C of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Home16 less Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11381 et seq.). 

17 (2) EXTREMELY LOW-INCOME FAMILY; VERY

18 LOW-INCOME FAMILY.—The terms ‘‘extremely low19 income family’’ and ‘‘very low-income family’’ have 

20 the meanings given such terms in section 3(b) of the 

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

22 1437a(b)). 

23 (3) FUND.—The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the 

24 Housing Stabilization Fund established under sub25 section (a). 


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

2 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 

3 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

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

5 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029. 

Æ 


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