I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5816 
To establish an Office of Eviction Prevention in the Department of Housing 
and Urban Development and to authorize funding for the Eviction Pro-
tection Grant Program of such Department, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 28, 2023 
Mr. SCHIFF (for himself, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. CHU, Mr. 
GOMEZ, Ms. NORTON, and Ms. TLAIB) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To establish an Office of Eviction Prevention in the Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban Development and to author-
ize funding for the Eviction Protection Grant Program 
of such Department, 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 ‘‘Eviction Protection 
Act of 2023’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:09 Oct 03, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5816.IH
H5816
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF EVICTION PREVEN-
TION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of the Department of 
Housing and Urban Development Act (42 U.S.C. 3533) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(i) OFFICE OF EVICTION PREVENTION.— 
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 
the Department, in the Office of the Secretary, the 
Office of Eviction Prevention. 
‘‘(2) DIRECTOR.—There is established the posi-
tion of Director of the Office of Eviction Prevention. 
The Director shall be the head of the Office of Evic-
tion Prevention and shall be appointed by, and shall 
report to, the Secretary. Such position shall be a ca-
reer-reserved position in the Senior Executive Serv-
ice. 
‘‘(3) MISSION.—The mission of the Office of 
Eviction Prevention shall be to prevent evictions 
from rental housing and to protect tenants of such 
housing from the harm of evictions and eviction fil-
ings. 
‘‘(4) FUNCTIONS.—The Director shall have pri-
mary responsibility within the Department for all ac-
tivities and matters relating to eviction prevention, 
including the following: 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:09 Oct 03, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5816.IH
H5816
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
‘‘(A) Administering the Eviction Protection 
Grant Program of the Department, including— 
‘‘(i) conducting a robust evaluation of 
grantees under the program and the activi-
ties undertaken under the program by 
grantees, and assessing whether such ac-
tivities improved outcomes for tenants 
served by a grant, taking into consider-
ation the differing tenant protections in 
States and localities; 
‘‘(ii) identifying, and reporting to the 
Congress on, best practices and activities 
for eviction protection, including identi-
fying resources and funding needed to con-
tinue and replicate best practices and ac-
tivities; and 
‘‘(iii) providing technical assistance 
and support to grantees under the pro-
gram to provide them with training, exper-
tise, best practices, and problem-solving 
strategies. 
‘‘(B) Analyzing and reporting on informa-
tion gathered through the Eviction Protection 
Grant Program and other programs adminis-
tered by the Office. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:09 Oct 03, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5816.IH
H5816
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
‘‘(C) Coordinating with the Office of Policy 
Development and Research of the Department 
in establishing a database on evictions, which 
shall be administered by such Office and shall 
include such measures as may be necessary to 
protect against the release of personally identi-
fiable information regarding tenants, analyzing 
information collected by such database, and re-
porting to the Congress regarding such anal-
yses. 
‘‘(D) Coordinating strategies to prevent 
evictions and early lease terminations in hous-
ing programs administered by the Department, 
including through— 
‘‘(i) training offices and personnel of 
the Department on eviction prevention 
policies and programs and tenants rights; 
and 
‘‘(ii) coordinating with other offices of 
the Department, including the Office of 
Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity and 
the Office of Gender-Based Violence. 
‘‘(E) Collaborating with other Federal 
agencies, including the Office of Access to Jus-
tice of the Department of Justice, the Bureau 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:09 Oct 03, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5816.IH
H5816
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
of Consumer Financial Protection, the Depart-
ment of Agriculture, the Department of the 
Treasury, the Department of Veterans Affairs, 
and the Department of Defense, to develop best 
practices for eviction prevention strategies with-
in Federal programs and the private rental 
market. 
‘‘(F) Identifying strategies to prevent and 
reduce evictions across the United States, in-
cluding— 
‘‘(i) collaborating with Federal agen-
cies whose activities impact tenants in fed-
erally subsidized housing and housing in 
the private rental market, including the 
Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Bu-
reau of Consumer Financial Protection, 
the Department of Justice, the Federal 
Trade Commission, the Department of 
Health and Human Services, the Depart-
ment of Transportation, the United States 
Domestic Policy Council, and the National 
Economic Council; 
‘‘(ii) establishing a working group on 
eviction prevention to study and develop 
solutions to the national eviction crisis, 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:09 Oct 03, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5816.IH
H5816
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
which working group shalll include rep-
resentatives of agencies referred to in 
clause (i), tenant representatives, rep-
resentatives of legal services providers, and 
grantees under the Eviction Protection 
Grant Program; 
‘‘(iii) providing technical assistance to 
housing providers, State and local govern-
ments, and other agencies on issues related 
to evictions and tenant protections; and 
‘‘(iv) coordinating with State and local 
governments and agencies, including State 
housing finance agencies, on such issues. 
‘‘(G) Conducting outreach to and engage-
ment with tenants to— 
‘‘(i) provide education and informa-
tion about tenant protections and available 
eviction prevention programs, including by 
developing resources and materials for ten-
ants; 
‘‘(ii) collect complaints and feedback 
from tenants and community members on 
evictions and eviction-prevention programs; 
and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:09 Oct 03, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5816.IH
H5816
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
‘‘(iii) refer complaints regarding evic-
tions to appropriate Federal, State, and 
local agencies or organizations, including 
legal and other advocacy organizations, ap-
propriate to address housing-related issues. 
‘‘(5) COVERED
EVICTIONS.—For purposes of 
this subsection the term ‘eviction’ includes the vari-
ety of processes and means by which landlords re-
move tenants from rental properties, including— 
‘‘(A) court-ordered evictions, including 
eviction filings, court-ordered eviction rulings, 
and any eviction actions that take place 
through the judicial system; 
‘‘(B) extra-legal evictions that do not in-
volve the judicial system, commonly known as 
illegal, unlawful, informal, or self-help evictions, 
including threatening tenants, changing the 
locks on rental units, shutting off the utilities 
to such units, and paying tenants to surrender 
occupancy of a unit; 
‘‘(C) administrative actions by public hous-
ing agencies to evict residents of public housing; 
and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:09 Oct 03, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5816.IH
H5816
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
‘‘(D) early lease terminations by housing 
providers receiving assistance from the Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban Development.’’. 
(b) TRANSFER.—The Secretary of Housing and 
Urban Development shall provide for the transfer of the 
administration of the Eviction Protection Grant Program 
of the Department, which as of the date of the enactment 
of this Act is the responsibility of the Office of Policy De-
velopment and Research, to the Director of the Office of 
Eviction Prevention established under section 4(i) of the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development Act, as 
added by the amendment made by subsection (a) of this 
section. 
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There is authorized to be appropriated— 
(1) $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 
through 2028 for grants under the Eviction Protec-
tion Grant Program of the Department of Housing 
and Urban Development; and 
(2) $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 
through 2028 for costs of personnel for and activi-
ties of the Office of Eviction Prevention. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
00:09 Oct 03, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H5816.IH
H5816
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB