Title: HEALS Act
Policy area: Housing and Community Development

Summary:
Help End Abusive Living Situations Act or the HEALS Act
This bill requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development to take specified measures to improve services provided to survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, including by promoting the provision of technical assistance and support for programs to improve outcomes for such survivors.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6701 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6701

 To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to improve 
 services for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual 
                         assault, or stalking.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 4, 2018

   Mr. Poe of Texas (for himself and Mr. O'Halleran) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to improve 
 services for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual 
                         assault, or stalking.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Help End Abusive Living Situations 
Act'' or the ``HEALS Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``domestic violence'' has the meaning given 
        the term in section 40002(a) of the Violence Against Women Act 
        of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 13925(a));
            (2) the term ``domestic violence project'' means a project 
        administered by a victim service provider designed to meet the 
        needs of survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, 
        sexual assault, or stalking;
            (3) the term ``homeless individual'' has the meaning given 
        the term in section 103 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 
        Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11302);
            (4) the terms ``homeless individual with a disability'', 
        ``permanent housing'', ``tenant-based'', ``transitional 
        housing'', and ``victim service provider'' have the meanings 
        given those terms in section 401 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 
        Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360);
            (5) the term ``rapid re-housing project'' means supportive 
        services and short- or medium-term tenant-based rental 
        assistance, as necessary, to help a homeless individual, with 
        or without a disability, move into permanent housing; and
            (6) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Housing 
        and Urban Development.

SEC. 3. STRENGTHENING HOUSING RESOURCES PROTECTIONS FOR VICTIMS OF 
              DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DATING VIOLENCE, SEXUAL ASSAULT, AND 
              STALKING.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary shall take the following measures to improve services 
provided to survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual 
assault, and stalking:
            (1) Strategic plan.--The Secretary shall create a section 
        in the next strategic plan of the Department of Housing and 
        Urban Development required under section 306 of title 5, United 
        States Code, that--
                    (A) outlines a thorough response to the housing 
                needs of survivors of domestic violence, dating 
                violence, sexual assault, and stalking and their 
                families;
                    (B) provides that, for purposes of scoring 
                applicants in the notice of funding availability for 
                the Continuum of Care program authorized under subtitle 
                C of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance 
                Act (42 U.S.C. 11381 et seq.) in any fiscal year, the 
                Secretary shall give equal consideration to--
                            (i) rapid re-housing projects;
                            (ii) projects that provide permanent 
                        supportive housing; and
                            (iii) domestic violence projects that 
                        maximize client choice, including transitional 
                        housing;
                    (C) authorizes any defunded transitional housing 
                project to reapply for funding; and
                    (D) authorizes rapid re-rehousing projects to 
                provide not less than 6 months and not more than 24 
                months of assistance.
            (2) Evaluation.--The Secretary shall develop--
                    (A) measurable criteria upon which applicants are 
                evaluated to demonstrate their collaboration with 
                victim service providers to develop local policy 
                priorities focused on survivors of domestic violence, 
                dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, including 
                survivor-centered coordinated entry processes that 
                appropriately assess and prioritize those survivors and 
                take into account the safety and confidentiality needs 
                of those survivors; and
                    (B) mechanisms that promote the provision of 
                technical assistance and support for programs to 
                improve outcomes instead of reallocating or not 
                awarding funds.
            (3) Research agenda.--The Secretary shall develop a 
        research agenda that focuses on survivors of domestic violence, 
        dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking and the housing 
        modalities that best support them, especially the critical 
        safety concerns and the link between trauma and residential 
        stability.

SEC. 4. INCREASING ACCESS TO SAFE HOUSING FOR SURVIVORS OF DOMESTIC 
              VIOLENCE, DATING VIOLENCE, SEXUAL ASSAULT, AND STALKING.

    Section 427(b) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 
U.S.C. 11386a(b)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(F)--
                    (A) in clause (i), by striking ``or'' at the end;
                    (B) in clause (ii), by striking ``and'' and the end 
                and inserting ``or''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(iii) success in meeting the safety and 
                        trauma needs of survivors of domestic violence, 
                        dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, 
                        including access to safe housing; and''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) Criteria for victim services providers.--With respect 
        to recipients that are victim service providers, the Secretary 
        shall evaluate the provider based on the ability to meet the 
        safety and trauma needs of victims served by the provider, 
        including access to safe housing.''.

SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on--
            (1) the trends in allocating resources beginning after the 
        date of enactment of the Homeless Emergency Assistance and 
        Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-22; 123 
        Stat. 1663) to address the housing needs of survivors of 
        domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and 
        stalking; and
            (2) the increase in the allocation of resources for 
        domestic violence projects beginning after the date of 
        enactment of this Act.
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