I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 766 
To encourage States and units of general local government to use amounts 
received under the community development block grant program and 
the community mental health services and substance abuse block grant 
programs to provide housing counseling and financial counseling for 
individuals before their release from inpatient or residential institutions 
for individuals with mental illness and periodic evaluation of the appro-
priateness of such counseling after such release. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 28, 2009 
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to 
the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently 
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To encourage States and units of general local government 
to use amounts received under the community develop-
ment block grant program and the community mental 
health services and substance abuse block grant pro-
grams to provide housing counseling and financial coun-
seling for individuals before their release from inpatient 
or residential institutions for individuals with mental ill-
ness and periodic evaluation of the appropriateness of 
such counseling after such release. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community Assistance 
Act for Persons with Mental Illness’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Many homeless individuals in the United 
States are individuals who have been discharged 
from inpatient or residential institutions for individ-
uals with mental illness. 
(2) With proper predischarge housing coun-
seling and related services, many such individuals 
can be accommodated in existing housing facilities. 
(3) Residential institutions for individuals with 
mental illness are funded and operated by States 
and units of general local government without direct 
Federal involvement. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
Section 1919 of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 300x–8) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new paragraphs: 
‘‘(3) HOUSING COUNSELING.—The term ‘hous-
ing counseling’ means counseling furnished to an in-
dividual before the individual’s release from an inpa-
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tient or residential institution for individuals with 
mental illness that includes discussions with an ac-
credited or experienced advisor from a community- 
based non-profit organization on, and distribution to 
such individual by such an advisor of, information 
about how the application and grant processes work 
for Federal, State, and local housing assistance, 
about selection preferences for such housing assist-
ance, about how rent is determined for applicable 
public housing, and about the duration for which the 
individual would be eligible to stay in such public 
housing. Such counseling shall include information 
on any of the following topics, as appropriate: 
‘‘(A) Housing choice vouchers under sec-
tion 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)). 
‘‘(B) Direct housing subsidies. 
‘‘(C) Non-profit housing. 
‘‘(D) Public housing (as such term is de-
fined in section 3(b) of the United States Hous-
ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 
‘‘(E) Rent supplements and assistance pro-
grams. 
‘‘(F) Co-operative housing. 
‘‘(G) Permanent supportive housing. 
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‘‘(H) Private-sector housing affordable to 
the individual. 
‘‘(I) Tax credit programs. 
‘‘(J) Local laws regarding renters’ rights. 
‘‘(K) Home mortgages. 
‘‘(L) Mortgage refinancing. 
‘‘(M) Home equity loans. 
‘‘(N) Home repair loans. 
‘‘(O) Property taxes. 
‘‘(P) Other housing options for low-income 
individuals or other applicable groups of indi-
viduals. 
‘‘(4) FINANCIAL COUNSELING.—The term ‘fi-
nancial counseling’ means counseling furnished to an 
individual before the individual’s release from a resi-
dential institution for individuals with mental illness 
that includes discussions with an accredited or expe-
rienced advisor from a community-based non-profit 
organization on, and distribution to such individual 
by such an advisor of, information about issues re-
lating to financial literacy and education to promote 
an understanding of consumer, economic, and per-
sonal finance issues and concepts, including the fol-
lowing, as appropriate: 
‘‘(A) Saving for retirement. 
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‘‘(B) Managing credit. 
‘‘(C) Long-term care. 
‘‘(D) Estate planning. 
‘‘(E) Predatory lending. 
‘‘(F) Identity theft. 
‘‘(G) Financial abuse schemes. 
‘‘(H) Work incentives. 
‘‘(I) Money management skills building.’’. 
SEC. 4. USE OF CERTAIN BLOCK GRANT FUNDS FOR HOUS-
ING COUNSELING, FINANCIAL COUNSELING, 
AND PERIODIC EVALUATION. 
(a) USE
OF FUNDS UNDER EXISTING PROGRAM 
PERMITTED.—Funds made available to States and units 
of general local government under the community develop-
ment block grant program under title I of the Housing 
and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 
5301 et seq.), and under the block grant programs for 
community mental health services and for the prevention 
and treatment of substance abuse under part B of title 
XIX of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300x 
et seq.), may be used for purposes of providing housing 
counseling and financial counseling (as such terms are de-
fined in paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively, of section 
1919 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300x– 
8), as added by section 3) for individuals before their re-
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lease from inpatient or residential institutions for individ-
uals with mental illness and for purposes of biannual eval-
uations of the appropriateness of such counseling provided 
for such individuals following such release. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS ABOUT USING FUNDS FOR 
THIS PURPOSE.—It is the sense of Congress that States 
and units of general local government should use a reason-
able portion of the funds described in subsection (a) to 
provide for housing counseling, financial counseling, and 
biannual evaluations described in such subsection. 
SEC. 5. AMENDMENTS TO THE HOUSING AND COMMUNITY 
DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1974 AND PUBLIC 
HEALTH SERVICE ACT. 
(a) STATEMENT OF PROJECTED USE OF FUNDS AND 
REPORTS BY RECIPIENTS OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 
BLOCK GRANT FUNDS.— 
(1) STATEMENT OF PROJECTED USE OF FUNDS 
TO
INCLUDE
FUNDS
USED
FOR
HOUSING
COUN-
SELING
AND
FINANCIAL
COUNSELING.—Section 
104(a)(1) of the Housing and Community Develop-
ment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5304(a)(1)) is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following new sentence: 
‘‘Each statement of projected use of funds required 
under this paragraph shall include a specific state-
ment of the portion of funds received under section 
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106 that are expected to be used pursuant to section 
4(a) of the Community Assistance Act for Persons 
with Mental Illness to provide housing counseling 
and financial counseling (as such terms are defined 
in section 1919 of the Public Health Service Act) for 
individuals before their release from inpatient or res-
idential institutions for individuals with mental ill-
ness and for biannual evaluations of the appropriate-
ness of such counseling provided for such individuals 
following such release.’’. 
(2) REPORTS ON HOUSING COUNSELING AND 
FINANCIAL COUNSELING PROVIDED.—Section 104(e) 
of the Housing and Community Development Act of 
1974 (42 U.S.C. 5304(e)) is amended by inserting 
after the third sentence the following new sentences: 
‘‘The report shall include a specific statement of the 
portion of funds received by the grantee under sec-
tion 106 that were used pursuant to section 4(a) of 
the Community Assistance Act for Persons with 
Mental Illness to provide housing counseling and fi-
nancial counseling (as such terms are defined in sec-
tion 1919 of the Public Health Service Act) for indi-
viduals before their release from inpatient or resi-
dential institutions for individuals with mental ill-
ness, a description of the housing counseling and fi-
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nancial counseling provided, a specific statement of 
the portion of such funds used to evaluate bian-
nually the appropriateness of such counseling pro-
vided for such individuals following such release, and 
a description of the type of the evaluations made. 
The report shall also include recommendations for 
the further improvement of such counseling and 
such biannual evaluations.’’. 
(b) STATE PLAN AND REPORTS BY STATES RECEIV-
ING BLOCK GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH 
SERVICES AND FOR PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF 
SUBSTANCE ABUSE.— 
(1) INCLUSION OF HOUSING COUNSELING AND 
FINANCIAL COUNSELING IN STATE PLAN FOR COM-
PREHENSIVE
COMMUNITY-BASED
MENTAL
HEALTH 
SYSTEMS.—The 
second 
sentence 
of 
section 
1912(b)(1) of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 300x–2(b)(1)) is amended— 
(A) by inserting ‘‘housing counseling (as 
defined in section 1919(4)), financial counseling 
(as defined in section 1919(5),’’ after ‘‘medical 
and dental care,’’; and 
(B) by inserting ‘‘, including individuals 
who are released from inpatient or residential 
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institutions,’’ after ‘‘support services to be pro-
vided to individuals’’. 
(2) REPORTS ON HOUSING COUNSELING AND 
FINANCIAL
COUNSELING
PROVIDED.—Section 
1942(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 300x–52(a)) is 
amended— 
(A) in paragraph (1), at the end by strik-
ing at the end ‘‘and’’; 
(B) in paragraph (2), at the end by strik-
ing the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(3) with respect to a grant under section 
1911, the number of individuals in the State who 
were transitioned out of inpatient or residential in-
stitutions for individuals with mental illness, the 
housing counseling and financial counseling fur-
nished to such individuals for purposes of such tran-
sition into the community, and the number of such 
individuals who returned to such an institution after 
being released from such institution and the reasons 
for such return.’’. 
(c) REPORTS
BY SECRETARY
OF HOUSING
AND 
URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND 
HUMAN SERVICES.— 
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(1) Not later than 6 months after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Housing 
and Urban Development and the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services shall each submit to the 
Congress a report describing the projected use of 
funds received under the applicable block grant pro-
gram referred to in section 4(a) for fiscal year 2010 
to provide housing counseling and financial coun-
seling (as such terms are defined in paragraphs (4) 
and (5) of section 1919 of the Public Health Service 
Act (42 U.S.C. 300x–8), as added by section 3) for 
individuals before their release from inpatient or res-
idential institutions for individuals with mental ill-
ness and biannual evaluations of the appropriateness 
of such counseling provided for such individuals fol-
lowing such release. 
(2) Not later than September 30, 2011, and an-
nually thereafter, the Secretary of Housing and 
Urban Development and the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services shall each submit to the Con-
gress a report describing the actual use of amounts 
received under the applicable block grant program 
referred to in section 4(a) for the previous 12-month 
period to provide the housing counseling, financial 
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counseling, and biannual evaluation described in 
paragraph (1). Each such report shall include— 
(A) an analysis of the feasibility and desir-
ability of requiring, as a condition of receipt of 
funds under the applicable block grant pro-
gram, that each State and unit of general local 
government either have a program providing for 
such housing counseling, financial counseling, 
and biannual evaluation or for the development 
of a prerelease housing plan; 
(B) an analysis of the feasibility and desir-
ability of requiring States and units of general 
local government to reserve for such purpose a 
certain portion or amount of the funds received 
under such block grant program; and 
(C) any recommendations of the applicable 
Secretary for legislative changes in such block 
grant program. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
subsections (a) and (b) shall apply to grants made for pe-
riods beginning on or after October 1, 2010. 
Æ 
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