I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3703 
To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish 
an excess urban heat mitigation grant program, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 4, 2025 
Ms. ANSARI (for herself, Mr. BELL, Mr. CARBAJAL, Ms. DEXTER, Mrs. DIN-
GELL, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Mr. GARCIA of California, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. 
HUFFMAN, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. LANDSMAN, Mr. LICCARDO, Mr. MAG-
AZINER, Mrs. MCCLAIN DELANEY, Mrs. MCIVER, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. NOR-
TON, Ms. OMAR, Ms. RIVAS, Mr. STANTON, Ms. TITUS, Mrs. WATSON 
COLEMAN, Mr. WHITESIDES, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, and Ms. WILSON 
of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
to establish an excess urban heat mitigation grant pro-
gram, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Excess Urban Heat 
Mitigation Act of 2025’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Heat stress is a leading weather-related 
cause of death in the United States, with more than 
600 people killed in the United States by extreme 
heat every year, and many more experiencing res-
piratory problems and heat-related illness. 
(2) Urban areas are likely to experience higher 
temperatures than surrounding areas due to design- 
related attributes of the built environment, including 
manmade factors such as low solar reflectance, low 
vegetation and tree cover, high building density, high 
impervious surface cover, and waste heat emissions. 
(3) Underserved communities are disproportion-
ately impacted by extreme heat. In the United 
States, low-income census blocks have 15.2 percent 
less tree cover and an average land surface tempera-
ture that is 1.5 degrees Celsius hotter than high-in-
come blocks. 
(4) Studies show that in 97 percent of the larg-
est urbanized areas in the United States, people of 
color live in census tracts with higher surface urban 
heat intensity than non-Hispanic Whites, indicating 
that heat exposure is unequally distributed by race. 
(5) Urban heat is not only a public health 
threat but also an economic one, as rising heat leads 
to increased roadway maintenance costs, higher resi-
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dential and commercial summer energy costs, and 
lost labor productivity, as well as the cost to patients 
and health care infrastructure for heat-related hos-
pitalizations and emergency department visits. 
(6) Excess urban heat causes increased energy 
consumption, elevated emission of air pollutants and 
greenhouse gases, and impaired water quality. 
(7) Heat waves are expected to not only occur 
more frequently in the United States but also be of 
longer duration, lasting 10 to 20 days longer by the 
end of the century. 
(8) Solutions exist that communities can imple-
ment now to mitigate the challenge of urban heat. 
One example is the planting of urban trees to offset 
or reverse the urban heat island effect. Studies in 
multiple cities in the United States have shown that 
urban trees can offset projected increases in heat-re-
lated mortality in 2050 by 40 to 99 percent. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) COVERED CENSUS TRACT.—The term ‘‘cov-
ered census tract’’ means a census tract with a pov-
erty rate of not less than 20 percent, as measured 
by the 5-year data series available from the Amer-
ican Community Survey of the Bureau of the Census 
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for the period of 2019 through 2023, including such 
a census tract that includes an area that was des-
ignated as ‘‘hazardous’’ or ‘‘definitely declining’’ in 
maps drawn by the Home Owners’ Loan Corpora-
tion. 
(2) COVERED
GRANT.—The term ‘‘covered 
grant’’ means a grant awarded under section 4(a). 
(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-
ty’’ means— 
(A) a State (as defined in section 102 of 
the Housing and Community Development Act 
of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5302)); 
(B) a metropolitan planning organization; 
(C) a unit of general local government (as 
defined in section 102 of the Housing and Com-
munity Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 
5302)); 
(D) an Indian tribe (as defined in section 
102 of the Housing and Community Develop-
ment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5302)); 
(E) a territorial government; 
(F) a nonprofit organization working in co-
ordination with an entity described in subpara-
graphs (A) through (E); and 
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(G) a consortium of nonprofit organiza-
tions. 
(4) ELIGIBLE
PROJECT.—The term ‘‘eligible 
project’’— 
(A) means a project designed to mitigate 
or manage heat in an urban area by— 
(i) working to mitigate the causes of 
higher temperatures; or 
(ii) managing the impacts of higher 
temperatures or other extreme weather 
events; and 
(B) includes the implementation, construc-
tion, or maintenance of— 
(i) tree planting and maintenance 
with, wherever possible, preference for— 
(I) native tree species; 
(II) tree species with high shade 
production and carbon sequestration; 
and 
(III) tree species that are valu-
able for food production; 
(ii) cool pavements; 
(iii) cool roofs; 
(iv) green roofs; 
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(v) bus and other transit stop shel-
ters; 
(vi) shade structures; 
(vii) cooling centers with, wherever 
possible, preference for— 
(I) cooling centers that collabo-
rate with existing community centers 
and spaces; 
(II) cooling centers with year- 
round accessibility; and 
(III) cooling centers that utilize 
renewable energy; 
(viii) community gardens, including 
agroforestry practices; 
(ix) outreach to communities about re-
sources available under this section; 
(x) local heat mitigation and manage-
ment education efforts; 
(xi) urban forestry master plans; 
(xii) urban tree canopy assessments; 
(xiii) arboriculture training; 
(xiv) maintenance of existing urban 
trees; or 
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(xv) other actions the Secretary deter-
mines appropriate to mitigate or manage 
excess urban heat. 
(5) ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE.—The term ‘‘en-
vironmental justice’’ means the fair treatment and 
meaningful involvement of all people regardless of 
race, color, culture, national origin, income, and edu-
cational levels with respect to the development, im-
plementation, and enforcement of protective environ-
mental laws, regulations, and policies. 
(6) EXCESS URBAN HEAT EFFECT.—The term 
‘‘excess urban heat effect’’ means the phenomenon 
of local urban warming, resulting from manmade 
factors such as low solar reflectance, low tree cover, 
high building density, high impervious surface cover, 
and waste heat emissions. 
(7) EXTREME
HEAT.—The term ‘‘extreme 
heat’’ means a prolonged period of excessively hot 
weather, with temperatures well above climatological 
normals for a given location and season. 
(8) NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION.—The term 
‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization de-
scribed in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under sec-
tion 501(a) of such Code. 
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(9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 
(10) URBAN
AREA.—The term ‘‘urban area’’ 
has the meaning given the term in section 101(a) of 
title 23, United States Code. 
(11) URBAN
FORESTRY
MASTER
PLAN.—The 
term ‘‘urban forestry master plan’’ means a stra-
tegic plan that establishes the overall vision, goals, 
objectives, and implementation tools to evaluate, 
maintain and expand the urban tree canopy with the 
intention of building resilience to extreme weather 
events, reducing the urban heat island effect, miti-
gating stormwater runoff, reducing nutrient runoff, 
addressing air quality, and preserving biodiversity. 
(12) URBAN TREE CANOPY ASSESSMENT.—The 
term ‘‘urban tree canopy assessment’’ means a 
measure of a community’s tree canopy coverage as 
a percentage of the total land area that serves as a 
baseline for setting community tree canopy goals 
and measuring progress. 
SEC. 4. URBAN HEAT MITIGATION AND MANAGEMENT 
GRANT PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, acting 
through the Office of Community Planning and Develop-
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ment, in coordination with the Administrator of the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency, the Chief of the Forest 
Service, and the Director of the Climate Program Office 
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 
shall establish an urban heat mitigation and management 
grant program to award grants to eligible entities to im-
plement eligible projects. 
(b) SET-ASIDE.—Not less than 75 percent of the 
amounts of covered grants awarded for a fiscal year shall 
be awarded to eligible entities to implement projects in a 
covered census tract. 
(c) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not more than 3 percent of 
amounts appropriated to carry out this section may 
be used to provide technical assistance to eligible en-
tities applying for or implementing a covered grant. 
(2) PREFERENCE.—In providing technical as-
sistance under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 
give preference to eligible entities that intend to 
serve communities— 
(A) located in a covered census tract; or 
(B) with lower-tree canopy and higher 
maximum daytime summer temperatures com-
pared to surrounding communities, as deter-
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mined by the Secretary, based on publicly avail-
able information. 
(3) INCLUSIONS.—Technical assistance pro-
vided under paragraph (1) may include— 
(A) assistance developing a complete appli-
cation; 
(B) financial analysis and budget develop-
ment; 
(C) support for project integration; 
(D) assessment of project readiness; and 
(E) technical assistance implementing ac-
tivities once a covered grant is received. 
(d) APPLICATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity desiring a 
covered grant shall submit to the Secretary an appli-
cation, at such time and in such manner as required 
by the Secretary in guidance, that includes, at a 
minimum— 
(A) how the eligible entity will use the cov-
ered grant; 
(B) how the eligible projects funded will 
combat extreme heat or excess urban heat ef-
fects and improve quality of life for impacted 
communities; 
(C) a robust engagement plan that— 
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(i) outlines how the eligible entity will 
meaningfully and inclusively engage with 
the communities in which the eligible 
projects take place throughout project im-
plementation; and 
(ii) demonstrates how the eligible enti-
ty plans to— 
(I) foster meaningful, reciprocal 
relationships with community-based 
organizations; 
(II) engage in respectful, good- 
faith consultation with diverse com-
munity stakeholders; and 
(III) empower members of the 
community to participate in decision 
making; and 
(D) how the eligible entity will address the 
intersection between human health, environ-
ment, and built environment. 
(2) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
shall issue the guidance described in paragraph (1). 
(e) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), the Federal share of the cost of an eligi-
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ble project carried out with amounts from a covered 
grant shall be not more than 80 percent. 
(2) WAIVER.—The Secretary may increase the 
maximum Federal share described in paragraph (1) 
from 80 percent to 100 percent for an eligible 
project carried out by an eligible entity that dem-
onstrates economic hardship, as determined by the 
Secretary. 
(f) PRIORITY.—In awarding covered grants, the Sec-
retary shall give priority to an eligible entity that serves— 
(1) a community located in a covered census 
tract; or 
(2) a community with lower tree canopy and 
higher maximum daytime summer temperatures 
compared to surrounding communities, as deter-
mined by the Secretary, based on publicly available 
information. 
(g) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary shall 
submit an annual report to Congress that identifies the 
recipients of covered grants and the geographic and eco-
nomic distribution of those recipients. 
(h) OVERSIGHT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—In order to ensure the effec-
tiveness of projects that are carried out using cov-
ered grants, the Secretary shall use not more than 
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