Title: Equal Opportunity for Residential Representation Act
Policy area: Housing and Community Development

Summary:
Equal Opportunity for Residential Representation Act
This bill requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD's) Office of Community Planning and Development to carry out a program to make grants to organizations to provide legal services and other related supportive services on behalf of low-income families (including individuals and victims of domestic violence) who reside in a rental dwelling unit and have an income that does not exceed 80% of the median income for the area in which the family resides.
The following organizations may receive such grants:
These grants may be used only to provide legal services and other related supportive services in connection with: (1) an eviction of such a family, (2) the prevention of such eviction, (3) a dispute between the landlord and a tenant who is a family member, or (4) enforcing the family's legal rights regarding tenancy or fair housing.
Funds for such program shall be derived from revenues resulting from amendments by this bill to the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the limitation on the mortgage interest deduction for the acquisition indebtedness of certain taxpayers.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1146 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1146

To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish 
  a pilot program to make grants to eligible organizations to provide 
legal assistance to low-income families regarding housing disputes, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 16, 2017

 Mr. Ellison introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on 
   Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish 
  a pilot program to make grants to eligible organizations to provide 
legal assistance to low-income families regarding housing disputes, and 
                          for other purposes.

    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 ``Equal Opportunity for Residential 
Representation Act''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) eviction prevention programs provide important and 
        effective social and economic benefits;
            (2) such programs help protect low-income and at-risk 
        households from the trauma and disruption of homelessness and 
        save property owners from the high costs of forced eviction and 
        re-occupancy; and
            (3) investing more resources in eviction prevention helps 
        communities save on the high cost of homelessness by stopping 
        homelessness before it starts--for example, according to 2015 
        data, the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance estimates 
        that a homeless individual residing in Massachusetts creates an 
        additional cost burden for State-supported services (such as 
        shelters, emergency room visits, and incarceration) that is 
        $9,372 greater per year than for a housed individual.

SEC. 3. PILOT PROGRAM FOR LEGAL ASSISTANCE FOR HOUSING ISSUES FOR LOW-
              INCOME FAMILIES.

    (a) Authority.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (in 
this section referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall carry out a 
program under this section, through the Office of Community Planning 
and Development, to make grants to the extent amounts for such grants 
are made available pursuant to subsection (f) to eligible organizations 
under subsection (d) to provide legal services and other related 
supportive services under subsection (e) on behalf of eligible low-
income families under subsection (c).
    (b) Selection of Grantees.--The Secretary shall select eligible 
organizations under subsection (d) to receive grants under this section 
taking into consideration factors, including--
            (1) factors necessary to ensure an equitable distribution 
        of grants to grantees serving urban areas (as such term is 
        defined by the Secretary) and to grantees serving rural areas 
        (as such term is defined by the Secretary), except that the 
        Secretary shall ensure that, of any amounts made available for 
        any fiscal year for grants under this section, not less than 20 
        percent shall be used for grantees serving rural areas;
            (2) the number of rental units in the area served by the 
        grantee that are affordable to low-income households having 
        incomes at or below 80 percent of the area median income and 
        paying more than 30 percent of their incomes for rent;
            (3) the extent to which the population of the area served 
        by the grantee uses eviction or other housing-related legal 
        services or has a need for such services;
            (4) the extent to which tenants in the area served by the 
        grantee are evicted;
            (5) the number of rental units in the area served by the 
        grantee that are affordable to households having incomes at or 
        below 80 percent of the area median income;
            (6) the extent of poverty in the area served by the 
        grantee;
            (7) the number of renter households in the area served by 
        the grantee that--
                    (A) have incomes at or below 80 percent of the area 
                median income;
                    (B) are not provided rental assistance, such as 
                rental assistance under section 8 of the United States 
                Housing Act of 1937 or occupancy in a dwelling unit in 
                public housing; or
                    (C) live in severely inadequate housing, as 
                measured using the American Housing Survey definition 
                of housing having severe physical problems; and
            (8) any other factors that the Secretary considers 
        appropriate for purposes of this section, except that the 
        Secretary may not consider data from a point-in-time count of 
        the homeless (as defined in section 103(a) of the McKinney-
        Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11302(a))).
    (c) Eligible Low-Income Families.--Amounts from a grant under this 
section may be used only to provide eligible services under subsection 
(e) with respect to families (including individuals and including 
victims of domestic violence) who--
            (1) reside in a rental dwelling unit; and
            (2) have an income (as such term is defined in section 3(b) 
        of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b))) 
        that does not exceed 80 percent of the median income for the 
        area in which the family resides.
    (d) Eligible Organizations.--Grants under this section may be made 
only to--
            (1) a nonprofit organization that provides legal services 
        on behalf of persons or families whose eligibility for such 
        services includes a limitation on income, including any 
        organizations that receive funding from the Legal Services 
        Corporation (established under the Legal Services Corporation 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 2996 et seq.)) to provide such services on 
        behalf of such persons or families;
            (2) legal clinics sponsored by law schools or other 
        organizations; and
            (3) such other institutions, organizations, and entities as 
        the Secretary considers appropriate.
    (e) Eligible Services.--Amounts from a grant under this section may 
be used only to provide, on behalf of eligible low-income families 
under subsection (c), legal services and other related supportive 
services in connection with--
            (1) an eviction of such a family;
            (2) the prevention of an eviction of such a family;
            (3) a dispute between the landlord and a tenant who is a 
        member of such a family; or
            (4) enforcing the legal rights of such a family under 
        Federal, State, or local laws regarding tenancy or fair 
        housing.
    (f) Use of Mortgage Interest Deduction Savings for Grants.--
            (1) Determination of savings.--For each of fiscal years 
        2018 through 2022, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
        determine the amount of revenues accruing to the general fund 
        of the Treasury by reason of the enactment of the amendment 
        made by section 4 of this Act.
            (2) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized 
        to be appropriated for grants under this section for each of 
        fiscal years 2018 through 2022 the amount determined under 
        paragraph (1) for such fiscal year.

SEC. 4. REDUCTION IN LIMITATION ON MORTGAGE INTEREST DEDUCTION RELATING 
              TO ACQUISITION INDEBTEDNESS FOR CERTAIN TAXPAYERS.

    (a) Acquisition Indebtedness.--Clause (ii) of section 163(h)(3)(B) 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows:
                            ``(ii) Limitation.--The aggregate amount 
                        treated as acquisition indebtedness for any 
                        period shall not exceed--
                                    ``(I) $1,000,000 in the case of a 
                                joint return ($500,000 in the case of a 
                                married individual filing a separate 
                                return), and
                                    ``(II) the applicable amount in any 
                                other case.
                            ``(iii) Applicable amount.--For purposes of 
                        clause (ii)(II), the applicable amount is as 
                        follows:


------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          The applicable
                  ``For taxable years--                     amount is--
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beginning in calendar year 2018.........................        $900,000
Beginning in calendar year 2019.........................        $800,000
Beginning in calendar year 2020.........................        $700,000
Beginning in calendar year 2021.........................        $600,000
Beginning in or after calendar year 2022................    $500,000.''.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply to amounts paid or incurred after December 31, 2017.
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