Emergency Rental Assistance Act of 2020

To provide emergency rental assistance under the Emergency Solutions Grants program of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in response to the public health emergency resulting from the coronavirus, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Emergency Rental Assistance Act of 2020 2. Emergency rental assistance (a) Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated for grants under the Emergency Solutions Grants program under subtitle B of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 11371 42 U.S.C. 11374(a)(4) 42 U.S.C. 4121 (b) Income targeting For purposes of assistance made available with amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a)— (1) section 401(1)(A) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 11360(1)(A) 80 percent 30 percent (2) each grantee of such amounts shall use not less than 50 percent of the amounts received only for providing assistance for persons or families experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, who have incomes not exceeding 50 percent of the median income for the relevant geographic area; except that the Secretary may waive the requirement under this paragraph if the grantee demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Secretary that the population in the geographic area served by the grantee having such incomes is sufficiently being served with respect to activities eligible for funding with such amounts. (c) Definition of at risk of homelessness For purposes of assistance made available with amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a), section 401(1) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act shall be applied, during the period that begins on the date of the enactment of this Act and ends upon the expiration of the 6-month period that begins upon the termination by the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the emergency declared on March 13, 2020, by the President under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 4121 (d) 3-Year availability Each grantee of amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a) shall expend— (1) at least 60 percent of such grant amounts within 2 years of the date that such funds became available to the grantee for obligation; and (2) 100 percent of such grant amounts within 3 years of such date. The Secretary may recapture any amounts not expended in compliance with paragraph (1) of this subsection and reallocate such amounts to grantees in compliance with the formula referred to in subsection (h)(1)(A) of this section. (e) Rent restrictions Paragraph (1) of section 576.106(d) of the Secretary’s regulations (24 C.F.R. 576.106(d)(1)) shall be applied, with respect to rental assistance made available with amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a), by substituting 120 percent of the Fair Market Rent the Fair Market Rent (f) Subleases Notwithstanding the second sentence of subsection (g) of section 576.106 of the Secretary’s regulations (24 C.F.R. 576.106(g)), a program participant may sublet, with rental assistance made available with amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, a dwelling unit from a renter of the dwelling unit if there is a legally binding, written lease agreement for such sublease. (g) Housing relocation or stabilization activities A grantee of amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a) may expend up to 20 percent of its allocation for activities under section 415(a)(5) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 11374(a)(5) (h) Allocation of assistance (1) In general In allocating amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a), the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall— (A) not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, allocate any such amounts that do not exceed $50,000,000,000 under the formula specified in subsections (a), (b), and (e) of section 414 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 11373 (B) not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, allocate any remaining amounts to eligible grantees by a formula to be developed by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development that takes into consideration the formula referred to in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, and the need for emergency rental assistance under this section, including severe housing cost burden among extremely low- and very low-income renters and disruptions in housing and economic conditions, including unemployment. (2) Allocations to States A State recipient of an allocation under this section may elect to directly administer up to 50 percent of its allocation to carry out activities eligible under this section. (3) Election not to administer If a grantee elects not to receive funds under this section, such funds shall be allocated to the State recipient in which the grantee is located. (i) Inapplicability of matching requirement Subsection (a) of section 416 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 11375(a) (j) Prohibition on prerequisites None of the funds authorized under this section may be used to require people experiencing homelessness to receive treatment or perform any other prerequisite activities as a condition for receiving shelter, housing, or other services. (k) Public hearings (1) Inapplicability of in-person hearing requirements A grantee may not be required to hold in-person public hearings in connection with its citizen participation plan, but shall provide citizens with notice and a reasonable opportunity to comment of not less than 15 days. Following the period that begins upon the date of the enactment of this Act and ends upon the date of the termination by the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the emergency declared on March 13, 2020, by the President under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 4121 (2) Virtual public hearings During the period that national or local health authorities recommend social distancing and limiting public gatherings for public health reasons, a grantee may fulfill applicable public hearing requirements for all grants from funds made available pursuant to this section by carrying out virtual public hearings. Any such virtual hearings shall provide reasonable notification and access for citizens in accordance with the grantee’s certifications, timely responses from local officials to all citizen questions and issues, and public access to all questions and responses. (l) Administration Of any amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a), not more than the lesser of 0.5 percent, or $15,000,000, may be used for staffing, training, technical assistance, technology, monitoring, research, and evaluation activities necessary to carry out the program carried out under this section, and such amounts shall remain available until September 30, 2024.

Summary: Emergency Rental Assistance Act of 2020 This bill authorizes additional grants under the Emergency Solutions Grants program, administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, for states, local governments, and nonprofit organizations to provide expanded housing support to individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in response to needs arising from the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) public-health emergency.