I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3580 

To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to States and localities 

to provide the right to counsel in civil actions related to eviction, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 28, 2021 

Ms. DELAURO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on the 

Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to States 

and localities to provide the right to counsel in civil 

actions related to eviction, 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 ‘‘Eviction Prevention 

5 Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR STATES AND UNITS OF GENERAL 

2 LOCAL GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE ACCESS 

3 TO COUNSEL IN CIVIL ACTIONS RELATED TO 

4 EVICTION. 

5 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General is au6 thorized to make grants to States and units of general 

7 local government to provide eligible individuals access to 

8 counsel in civil actions related to eviction. 

9 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—A State or unit of general local 

10 government that receives a grant under this section shall 

11 use such funds to hire attorneys in positions that are dedi12 cated solely to providing counsel described in subsection 

13 (a). 

14 (c) APPLICATION.—A State or unit of general local 

15 government seeking an application under this section shall 

16 submit an application to the Attorney General at such 

17 time, in such manner, and containing such information as 

18 the Attorney General may reasonably require, including— 

19 (1) the rate of eviction for that State or unit 

20 of general local government; 

21 (2) during the previous year, the number of in22 dividuals subject to eviction in that State or unit of 

23 general local government who were not represented 

24 by an attorney in eviction proceedings; 


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1 (3) a plan for how the State or unit of general 

2 local government will use amounts from a grant 

3 under this section to increase access to counsel; and 

4 (4) the status with respect of the right to coun5 sel in civil actions related to eviction in the State or 

6 unit of general local government and, if the State or 

7 unit of general local government does not have in ef8 fect laws providing a right to counsel, such evidence 

9 as the Attorney General may require that is suffi10 cient to demonstrate that substantial progress has 

11 been made to enact laws providing such a right. 

12 (d) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—Subject to the availability 

13 of appropriations, a grant under this section shall be in 

14 an amount that is not less than $1,000,000, and which 

15 amount is determined based on— 

16 (1) the rate of eviction in the applicant State 

17 or unit of general local government, compared to the 

18 national average rate of eviction, as determined by 

19 the rates of eviction included with each application 

20 under subsection (c); 

21 (2) the plan submitted by the applicant State or 

22 unit of general local government in accordance with 

23 subsection (c)(3); 

24 (3) the status of right to counsel in applicant 

25 State or unit of general local government; and 


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1 (4) during the previous year, the number of in2 dividuals subject to eviction in the applicant State or 

3 unit of general local government who were not rep4 resented by an attorney in eviction proceedings. 

5 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

6 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

7 $125,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026. 

8 SEC. 3. NATIONAL DATABASE OF EVICTIONS. 

9 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF DATABASE.—Not later than 

10 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec11 retary shall establish and maintain a database that— 

12 (1) is accessible to the Office of Policy Develop13 ment and Research and the Office of Fair Housing 

14 and Equal Opportunity of the Department and other 

15 employees of the Department as determined nec16 essary by the Secretary; 

17 (2) includes the data described in subsection (b) 

18 with respect to court-ordered evictions, administra19 tive evictions, and illegal evictions in the United 

20 States; and 

21 (3) ensures appropriate security to prevent im22 proper disclosure of that data. 

23 (b) CONTENTS.—The database established under 

24 subsection (a) shall contain the following data: 


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1 (1) DATA ON EACH COURT-ORDERED OR AD2 MINISTRATIVE EVICTION.—With respect to each 

3 court-ordered or administrative eviction case filed on 

4 or after the date on which the database is estab5 lished: 

6 (A) Information on the tenant who is the 

7 defendant, including— 

8 (i) the name of the tenant; 

9 (ii) the address of the residential 

10 property and the type of housing; 

11 (iii) the number of household mem12 bers residing in the property, including the 

13 number of children; and 

14 (iv) whether the tenant is a recipient 

15 of tenant-based or project-based assistance 

16 under section 8 of the United States Hous17 ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f). 

18 (B) Information on the landlord who filed 

19 the court-ordered or administrative eviction 

20 case, including— 

21 (i) the name of the landlord; 

22 (ii) the name of the attorney or legally 

23 permitted representative of the landlord, or 

24 an indication that the landlord was self25 represented; 


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1 (iii) any amount that the landlord al2 leges that the tenant owes, including any 

3 penalties and attorney’s fees; and 

4 (iv) any costs incurred by the landlord 

5 for engaging in the eviction process, in6 cluding— 

7 (I) court costs, such as filing 

8 fees; 

9 (II) the cost of legal representa10 tion; and 

11 (III) the cost to set out a tenant. 

12 (C) Procedural data on the court-ordered 

13 or administrative eviction case, including— 

14 (i) the date, if applicable, on which 

15 the tenant was served with a notice to quit; 

16 (ii) the date of the initial court filing 

17 by the landlord; 

18 (iii) the reason why the landlord filed 

19 for eviction, such as nonpayment or breach 

20 of lease; 

21 (iv) whether the eviction was as a re22 sult of the enforcement of a local ordinance 

23 impacting eviction; 


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1 (v) the final outcome of the court-or2 dered or administrative eviction case, in3 cluding— 

4 (I) the disposition of the case, in5 cluding whether the initial hearing re6 sulted in a default judgment, dis7 missal, consent agreement, settlement, 

8 or trial; 

9 (II) the date of final disposition; 

10 (III) any amount owed to the 

11 landlord or tenant, if any, and over 

12 what time period; 

13 (IV) whether a judgment was 

14 made in favor of the tenant for code 

15 violations or warranty of habitability 

16 claims; 

17 (V) the overall outcome of the 

18 case, including whether the tenant 

19 paid any amounts to the landlord and 

20 whether the tenant stayed in the 

21 housing or was evicted from the hous22 ing; and 

23 (VI) whether the tenant had legal 

24 representation and the nature of that 

25 representation, including a lawyer, a 


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1 law student participating in a clinic, 

2 or another non-lawyer trained to rep3 resent clients in landlord-tenant court, 

4 or whether the tenant was a lawyer 

5 representing himself or herself; 

6 (vi) the total court fees incurred by 

7 the tenant, separated into categories of 

8 fees; 

9 (vii) the total court fees incurred by 

10 the landlord; 

11 (viii) whether the landlord had ap12 peared in landlord-tenant court for a 

13 court-ordered or administrative eviction 

14 matter involving the landlord in the 6- 

15 month, 1-year, or 2-year period preceding 

16 the court-ordered or administrative eviction 

17 case; and 

18 (ix) whether the tenant had appeared 

19 in landlord-tenant court for a court-or20 dered or administrative eviction matter in21 volving the landlord in the 6-month, 1- 

22 year, or 2-year period preceding the court23 ordered or administrative eviction case. 

24 (2) AGGREGATE DATA ON COURT-ORDERED OR

25 ADMINISTRATIVE EVICTION CASES.—Aggregate data 


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1 on court-ordered or administrative eviction cases 

2 filed on or after the date on which the database is 

3 established, including— 

4 (A) the total number of cases filed, includ5 ing a breakdown by— 

6 (i) the number of cases filed for non7 payment, other breach of lease, both non8 payment and breach of lease, and any 

9 other reason; 

10 (ii) the number of cases filed because 

11 of the enforcement of a local ordinance im12 pacting eviction; and 

13 (iii) the outcome of the dispositive 

14 hearing, including default judgment, dis15 missal, a consent agreement, a trial, and a 

16 settlement with or without mediation; 

17 (B) the number of tenants and landlords 

18 who showed up for the dispositive hearing of a 

19 court-ordered or an administrative eviction case, 

20 and how many were represented by counsel; 

21 (C) the average duration of a court-or22 dered or an administrative eviction case, includ23 ing the average time from filing to first hear24 ing; 


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1 (D) the average amount allegedly owed by 

2 a tenant, per landlord; 

3 (E) the average months of rent allegedly 

4 owed by a tenant; 

5 (F) the average amount paid by a tenant 

6 to resolve the case and stay in the housing; 

7 (G) the number of court-ordered or admin8 istrative eviction cases resulting in a judgment 

9 in favor of the tenant due to code violations or 

10 warranty of habitability claims; 

11 (H) the number and percentage of court12 ordered or administrative eviction cases broken 

13 down by age bracket; 

14 (I) the number and percentage of court-or15 dered or administrative eviction cases with a 

16 tenant or household with children; 

17 (J) the number of tenants evicted from 

18 public housing, broken down by each public 

19 housing agency; 

20 (K) the number of tenants evicted from 

21 dwelling units who were receiving tenant-based 

22 assistance or project-based assistance under 

23 section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 

24 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f); and 


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1 (L) the number of court-ordered or admin2 istrative eviction or cases where late fees were 

3 collected from tenants by landlords, and the av4 erage amount of late fees in those cases. 

5 (3) DATA ON EXECUTED EVICTIONS.—Local 

6 law enforcement or any other official who executes 

7 an eviction shall report to the adjudicating court or 

8 administrative forum sufficient data on each exe9 cuted eviction, such that the court may determine 

10 which court-ordered or administrative evictions re11 sulted in a law enforcement officer or other local of12 ficial removing the tenant. 

13 (4) DATA ON TENANT STATUS FOLLOWING A

14 COURT-ORDERED OR ADMINISTRATIVE EVICTION.— 

15 Each court or administrative forum responsible for 

16 adjudicating evictions should contact landlords to de17 termine whether tenants who were the subject of a 

18 court-ordered or administrative eviction were re19 moved or remained in the property 90 days after the 

20 court-ordered or administrative eviction. 

21 (5) DATA ON EACH ILLEGAL EVICTION.—With 

22 respect to each illegal eviction occurring on or after 

23 the date on which the database is established, as re24 ported by local governments and nonprofit organiza25 tions receiving grants under section 6: 


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1 (A) The data described in paragraph 

2 (1)(A). 

3 (B) Information on the landlord, includ4 ing— 

5 (i) the name of the landlord; and 

6 (ii) any amount that the landlord al7 leges that the tenant owes, including any 

8 penalties. 

9 (C) The reason the tenant was evicted. 

10 (D) If the tenant was evicted for non11 payment, the amount owed. 

12 (E) If the tenant was evicted for non13 payment, the total number of months owed. 

14 (F) Whether the tenant was evicted be15 cause of the enforcement of a local ordinance 

16 impacting eviction. 

17 (6) AGGREGATE DATA ON ILLEGAL EVIC18 TIONS.—Aggregate data on illegal eviction cases oc19 curring on or after the date on which the database 

20 is established, as reported by local governments and 

21 nonprofit organizations receiving grants under sec22 tion 6, including— 

23 (A) the average amount owed by a tenant, 

24 per landlord; 


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1 (B) the average months of rent owed by a 

2 tenant; 

3 (C) the number and percentage of illegal 

4 eviction cases broken down by age bracket; 

5 (D) the number and percentage of illegal 

6 eviction cases with a tenant or household with 

7 children; 

8 (E) the number and percentage of illegal 

9 eviction cases broken down by race and eth10 nicity; 

11 (F) the number and percentage of illegal 

12 eviction cases broken down by gender; 

13 (G) the number and percentage of illegal 

14 eviction cases broken down by disability status; 

15 and 

16 (H) the number and percentage of illegal 

17 eviction cases based on the enforcement of a 

18 local ordinance impacting eviction. 

19 (c) SUBMISSION OF DATA.— 

20 (1) SUBMISSION BY COURTS.—Not later than 

21 March 1 of each year, the Attorney General of each 

22 State shall submit to the Secretary data on court23 ordered eviction cases that occurred in that State 

24 during the preceding calendar year for inclusion in 

25 the database established under this section. 


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1 (2) SUBMISSION TO SECRETARY.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General 

3 of the State shall— 

4 (i) ensure the accuracy and consist5 ency of the data submitted under para6 graph (1); and 

7 (ii) upon receipt of the data, aggre8 gate the data and report the individual and 

9 aggregate data to the Secretary in a timely 

10 manner. 

11 (B) SUBMISSION BY COURTS.—If the At12 torney general of the State fails to submit the 

13 data described in paragraph (1) to the Sec14 retary in a timely manner under subparagraph 

15 (A), the clerk of each State or local court that 

16 handles landlord-tenant cases may submit the 

17 data directly to the Secretary. 

18 (d) GUIDELINES.—The Secretary shall promulgate 

19 rules and establish guidelines for the submission of data 

20 under subsection (c) and publication of data in the data21 base established under this section, which shall include— 

22 (1) a technological solution that provides a sin23 gle point of entry for data submissions to reduce the 

24 burden on clerks of the courts; 


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1 (2) in consultation with local governments and 

2 judges, appropriate safeguards for protecting the 

3 privacy of personally identifiable information of vul4 nerable populations, which shall incorporate con5 fidentiality measures to ensure that any personally 

6 identifiable information regarding a tenant who is a 

7 victim of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual 

8 assault, or stalking is not disclosed during the proc9 ess of data submission and publication; 

10 (3) standards for— 

11 (A) external researchers to be granted per12 mission to access data in the database, includ13 ing both aggregate data and, if necessary for 

14 the conduct of their research, personally identi15 fiable information, with appropriate safeguards 

16 to ensure identities are protected in any pub17 licly released analysis; 

18 (B) the establishment of a research data 

19 center to support analysis of that data; and 

20 (C) using generally accepted statistical 

21 principles to validate the data, in consultation 

22 with outside participants; 

23 (4) methods for collecting data required under 

24 subsection (b) that are not currently collected; 


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1 (5) establishing definitions for terms related to 

2 the eviction process based on how they are legally 

3 defined by courts of jurisdiction handling eviction 

4 cases; and 

5 (6) standards for local officials to identify and 

6 designate social services agencies that may access 

7 the database to provide targeted social services to 

8 those tenants. 

9 (e) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after 

10 the date of enactment of this Act, and each year there11 after, the Secretary shall make publicly available a report 

12 on the contents of the database established under this sec13 tion. 

14 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

15 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

16 out this section $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 

17 through 2026. 

18 SEC. 4. GAO STUDY. 

19 Not later than one year after the date of the enact20 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

21 States shall conduct a study and submit a report to Con22 gress on evictions in the United States, including an anal23 ysis of ways in which the legal system fails to provide suf24 ficient protections from eviction for tenants, the rate of 

25 representation of tenants and landlords, the effect of full 


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1 representation on default rates, case outcomes, and evic2 tion dockets as compared to cases where the tenant lacks 

3 representation or has pro se assistance, and the potential 

4 cost savings from providing representation. 

5 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) ACCESS TO COUNSEL.—The term ‘‘access to 

8 counsel’’ means full representation by an attorney. 

9 (2) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘eligible 

10 individual’’ means an individual whose income is less 

11 than 125 percent of the Federal poverty level. 

12 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the 

13 States of the United States, the District of Colum14 bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Com15 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, 

16 the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and any other 

17 territory or possession of the United States. 

18 (4) UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT.— 

19 The term ‘‘unit of general local government’’ means 

20 any city, town, township, county, parish, village, or 

21 other general purpose political subdivision of a 

22 State. 

23 (5) RATE OF EVICTION.—The term ‘‘rate of 

24 eviction’’ means the number of judgments of eviction 


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1 entered in that jurisdiction per capita during the 

2 previous fiscal year. 

3 (6) ADMINISTRATIVE EVICTION.—The term 

4 ‘‘administrative eviction’’ means a ruling in favor of 

5 the landlord in an administrative forum within a 

6 public housing agency, such as grievance procedures, 

7 to recover possession of residential property from a 

8 tenant, including a tenant residing in a public hous9 ing dwelling unit or receiving tenant-based assist10 ance or project-based assistance under section 8 of 

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

12 1437f). 

13 (7) COURT-ORDERED EVICTION.—The term 

14 ‘‘court-ordered eviction’’ means a court ruling in 

15 favor of the landlord in a legal action to recover pos16 session of residential property from a tenant, includ17 ing a tenant residing in a public housing dwelling 

18 unit or receiving tenant-based assistance or project19 based assistance under section 8 of the United 

20 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f). 

21 (8) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

22 means the Department of Housing and Urban De23 velopment. 

24 (9) EXECUTED EVICTION.—The term ‘‘executed 

25 eviction’’ means a court order carried out by a sherVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:48 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3580.IH H3580

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1 iff’s office or other law enforcement agency that re2 sulted in the landlord recovering possession of resi3 dential property from a tenant, including a tenant 

4 residing in a public housing dwelling unit or receiv5 ing tenant-based assistance or project-based assist6 ance under section 8 of the United States Housing 

7 Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f). 

8 (10) ILLEGAL EVICTION.—The term ‘‘illegal 

9 eviction’’ means self-help measures taken outside of 

10 the legal process for eviction to recover possession of 

11 residential property from a tenant, including a ten12 ant residing in a public housing dwelling unit or re13 ceiving tenant-based assistance or project-based as14 sistance under section 8 of the United States Hous15 ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f), such as— 

16 (A) willfully interrupting or permitting the 

17 interruption of essential items of services re18 quired by the rental agreement; 

19 (B) blocking or attempting to block the 

20 entry of a tenant upon the premises; 

21 (C) changing the locks or removing the 

22 front door of the premises; 

23 (D) removing the belongings of a tenant; 

24 and 


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1 (E) any other action defined as a self-help 

2 eviction under State landlord-tenant law. 

3 (11) LOCAL ORDINANCE IMPACTING EVIC4 TION.—The term ‘‘local ordinance impacting evic5 tion’’ means a local ordinance that is designed to ad6 dress the number of emergency services calls result7 ing from assault, sexual harassment, stalking, dis8 orderly conduct, or another type of behavior, situa9 tion, or condition that results in the need for emer10 gency services, that results in loss of housing or 

11 limit the housing opportunities for victims of crime, 

12 including victims of domestic violence, or individuals 

13 with disabilities who may require emergency services, 

14 abnegating local landlord-tenant law by— 

15 (A) requiring, encouraging, or permitting 

16 the eviction of a tenant or resident because of 

17 a certain number of calls for emergency serv18 ices; 

19 (B) requiring, encouraging, or permitting 

20 the eviction of a tenant or resident because of 

21 an arrest even though the arrest has not re22 sulted in the conviction of that tenant or resi23 dent; or 

24 (C) requiring, encouraging, or permitting 

25 the eviction of a tenant or resident because of 


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1 criminal activity occurring at or near the place 

2 of residence of the tenant or resident for which 

3 that tenant or resident has not been convicted. 

4 (12) PUBLIC HOUSING; PUBLIC HOUSING AGEN5 CY.—The terms ‘‘public housing’’ and ‘‘public hous6 ing agency’’ have the meanings given those terms in 

7 section 3(b) of the United States Housing Act of 

8 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 

9 (13) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 

10 means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop11 ment. 

Æ 


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