Title: Emergency Rental Assistance Act of 2020
Policy area: Housing and Community Development

Summary:
Emergency Rental Assistance Act of 2020
This bill authorizes additional grants under the Emergency Solutions Grants program, administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, for states, local governments, and nonprofit organizations to provide expanded housing support to individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in response to needs arising from the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) public-health emergency.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6314 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6314

 To provide emergency rental assistance under the Emergency Solutions 
  Grants program of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 
response to the public health emergency resulting from the coronavirus, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 23, 2020

   Mr. Heck (for himself, Mr. Kilmer, Ms. DelBene, and Mr. Smith of 
 Washington) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide emergency rental assistance under the Emergency Solutions 
  Grants program of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 
response to the public health emergency resulting from the coronavirus, 
                        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 ``Emergency Rental Assistance Act of 
2020''.

SEC. 2. EMERGENCY RENTAL ASSISTANCE.

    (a) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated for grants under the Emergency Solutions Grants program 
under subtitle B of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance 
Act (42 U.S.C. 11371 et seq.) $100,000,000,000 for grants under such 
subtitle only for providing rental assistance in accordance with 
section 415(a)(4) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 11374(a)(4)) and this section 
to respond to needs arising from the emergency declared on March 13, 
2020, by the President under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4121 et seq.) relating to the 
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
    (b) Income Targeting.--For purposes of assistance made available 
with amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a)--
            (1) section 401(1)(A) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 
        Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360(1)(A)) shall be applied by 
        substituting ``80 percent'' for ``30 percent''; and
            (2) each grantee of such amounts shall use not less than 50 
        percent of the amounts received only for providing assistance 
        for persons or families experiencing homelessness or at risk of 
        homelessness, who have incomes not exceeding 50 percent of the 
        median income for the relevant geographic area; except that the 
        Secretary may waive the requirement under this paragraph if the 
        grantee demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Secretary that 
        the population in the geographic area served by the grantee 
        having such incomes is sufficiently being served with respect 
        to activities eligible for funding with such amounts.
    (c) Definition of at Risk of Homelessness.--For purposes of 
assistance made available with amounts made available pursuant to 
subsection (a), section 401(1) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 
Assistance Act shall be applied, during the period that begins on the 
date of the enactment of this Act and ends upon the expiration of the 
6-month period that begins upon the termination by the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency of the emergency declared on March 13, 
2020, by the President under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4121 et seq.) relating to the 
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, as if subparagraph (C) 
were repealed.
    (d) 3-Year Availability.--Each grantee of amounts made available 
pursuant to subsection (a) shall expend--
            (1) at least 60 percent of such grant amounts within 2 
        years of the date that such funds became available to the 
        grantee for obligation; and
            (2) 100 percent of such grant amounts within 3 years of 
        such date.
The Secretary may recapture any amounts not expended in compliance with 
paragraph (1) of this subsection and reallocate such amounts to 
grantees in compliance with the formula referred to in subsection 
(h)(1)(A) of this section.
    (e) Rent Restrictions.--Paragraph (1) of section 576.106(d) of the 
Secretary's regulations (24 C.F.R. 576.106(d)(1)) shall be applied, 
with respect to rental assistance made available with amounts made 
available pursuant to subsection (a), by substituting ``120 percent of 
the Fair Market Rent'' for ``the Fair Market Rent''.
    (f) Subleases.--Notwithstanding the second sentence of subsection 
(g) of section 576.106 of the Secretary's regulations (24 C.F.R. 
576.106(g)), a program participant may sublet, with rental assistance 
made available with amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a) 
of this section, a dwelling unit from a renter of the dwelling unit if 
there is a legally binding, written lease agreement for such sublease.
    (g) Housing Relocation or Stabilization Activities.--A grantee of 
amounts made available pursuant to subsection (a) may expend up to 20 
percent of its allocation for activities under section 415(a)(5) of the 
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11374(a)(5)).
    (h) Allocation of Assistance.--
            (1) In general.--In allocating amounts made available 
        pursuant to subsection (a), the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
        Development shall--
                    (A) not later than 30 days after the date of the 
                enactment of this Act, allocate any such amounts that 
                do not exceed $50,000,000,000 under the formula 
                specified in subsections (a), (b), and (e) of section 
                414 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 
                U.S.C. 11373) to, and notify, each State, metropolitan 
                city, and urban county that is to receive a direct 
                grant of such amounts; and
                    (B) not later than 120 days after the date of the 
                enactment of this Act, allocate any remaining amounts 
                to eligible grantees by a formula to be developed by 
                the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development that 
                takes into consideration the formula referred to in 
                subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, and the need for 
                emergency rental assistance under this section, 
                including severe housing cost burden among extremely 
                low- and very low-income renters and disruptions in 
                housing and economic conditions, including 
                unemployment.
            (2) Allocations to states.--A State recipient of an 
        allocation under this section may elect to directly administer 
        up to 50 percent of its allocation to carry out activities 
        eligible under this section.
            (3) Election not to administer.--If a grantee elects not to 
        receive funds under this section, such funds shall be allocated 
        to the State recipient in which the grantee is located.
    (i) Inapplicability of Matching Requirement.--Subsection (a) of 
section 416 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 
11375(a)) shall not apply to any amounts made available pursuant to 
subsection (a) of this section.
    (j) Prohibition on Prerequisites.--None of the funds authorized 
under this section may be used to require people experiencing 
homelessness to receive treatment or perform any other prerequisite 
activities as a condition for receiving shelter, housing, or other 
services.
    (k) Public Hearings.--
            (1) Inapplicability of in-person hearing requirements.--A 
        grantee may not be required to hold in-person public hearings 
        in connection with its citizen participation plan, but shall 
        provide citizens with notice and a reasonable opportunity to 
        comment of not less than 15 days. Following the period that 
        begins upon the date of the enactment of this Act and ends upon 
        the date of the termination by the Federal Emergency Management 
        Agency of the emergency declared on March 13, 2020, by the 
        President under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
        Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4121 et seq.) relating to 
        the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and after the 
        period described in paragraph (2), the Secretary shall direct 
        grantees to resume pre-crisis public hearing requirements.
            (2) Virtual public hearings.--During the period that 
        national or local health authorities recommend social 
        distancing and limiting public gatherings for public health 
        reasons, a grantee may fulfill applicable public hearing 
        requirements for all grants from funds made available pursuant 
        to this section by carrying out virtual public hearings. Any 
        such virtual hearings shall provide reasonable notification and 
        access for citizens in accordance with the grantee's 
        certifications, timely responses from local officials to all 
        citizen questions and issues, and public access to all 
        questions and responses.
    (l) Administration.--Of any amounts made available pursuant to 
subsection (a), not more than the lesser of 0.5 percent, or 
$15,000,000, may be used for staffing, training, technical assistance, 
technology, monitoring, research, and evaluation activities necessary 
to carry out the program carried out under this section, and such 
amounts shall remain available until September 30, 2024.
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