Title: Legal Assistance to Prevent Evictions Act of 2020
Policy area: Housing and Community Development

Summary:
Legal Assistance to Prevent Evictions Act of 2020
This bill requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development to award grants to nonprofit and governmental entities to provide free legal assistance to eligible low-income tenants at risk of, or subject to, eviction.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5884 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5884

 To establish a grant program to provide legal assistance to eligible 
   tenants at risk of or subject to eviction, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 13, 2020

 Mr. Clyburn (for himself, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Ms. Clarke of 
 New York, Mr. Khanna, and Mrs. Hayes) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish a grant program to provide legal assistance to eligible 
   tenants at risk of or subject to eviction, 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 ``Legal Assistance to Prevent 
Evictions Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. EVICTIONS ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
shall establish a competitive grant program to provide grants to 
eligible recipients to provide legal assistance (including assistance 
related to pretrial activities, trial activities, post-trial 
activities, and alternative dispute resolution) at no cost to eligible 
tenants at risk of or subject to eviction.
    (b) Application.--To be eligible to receive a grant under this 
section, an applicant shall submit an application to the Secretary at 
such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the 
Secretary may reasonably require, including evidence of the experience 
of the applicant providing legal assistance in residential eviction 
matters.
    (c) Point System for Preference Factors.--In awarding grants under 
this section, the Secretary shall--
            (1) establish a system that awards points to applicants in 
        accordance with the preference factors described in subsection 
        (d); and
            (2) give priority to applicants with the greatest number of 
        points under the system.
    (d) Preference Factors.--The preference factors for which an 
applicant shall be awarded points under the system established pursuant 
to subsection (c)(1) are as follows:
            (1) Eviction rate preference.--If the applicant will use 
        grant funds awarded under this section to provide services in 
        census tracts with high rates of eviction. In making such 
        determinations, the Secretary shall use data determined by the 
        Secretary to be the best available, or if no appropriate data 
        is available, shall make reasonable inferences to determine the 
        rate of eviction in a census tract. The Secretary may not 
        require applicants to provide data on the rates of eviction in 
        the census tract in which the applicant intends to provide 
        services or award more points to applicants who provide such 
        data than to applicants who do not.
            (2) Capacity preference.--If the Secretary determines that 
        the applicant has a greater capacity to produce more favorable 
        outcomes regarding eviction for eligible tenants. In making 
        such determinations, the Secretary may consider the 
        applicant's--
                    (A) past experience in producing favorable outcomes 
                for households facing eviction;
                    (B) proposed use of grant funds to increase staff 
                resources to provide legal assistance;
                    (C) demonstrated past effective use of resources to 
                provide legal assistance;
                    (D) ability to provide services to eligible tenants 
                with limited English proficiency; and
                    (E) ability to effectively communicate with 
                eligible tenants with disabilities.
            (3) Preference for government entities that promote tenant 
        rights.--With respect to any applicant that is a governmental 
        entity, if the applicant has in effect laws or regulations that 
        promote tenant rights. In making such determinations, the 
        Secretary--
                    (A) shall consider laws or regulations establishing 
                a tenant's right to--
                            (i) counsel in evictions cases;
                            (ii) withhold rent if a landlord fails to 
                        provide essential services to ensure 
                        habitability of the premises;
                            (iii) deduct appliance repair costs from 
                        rent owed;
                            (iv) notice of failure to pay rent or other 
                        lease violation with the right to cure;
                            (v) a maximum security deposit equal to one 
                        month's rent; and
                            (vi) the expeditious return of any security 
                        deposit after terminating a lease; and
                    (B) may consider, with lesser weight given than the 
                weight given to those rights described in subsection 
                (A), laws or regulations establishing a tenant's right 
                to--
                            (i) advance notice of rent increases;
                            (ii) advance notice of landlord entry to 
                        the property; or
                            (iii) adequate time to recover abandoned 
                        property after eviction.
        Points awarded under this paragraph shall not result in an 
        applicant governmental entity being awarded a grant that, in 
        the absence of this paragraph, would have been awarded to 
        either an applicant nonprofit entity or an applicant 
        governmental entity lacking the legal authority to enact laws 
        or regulations described in this paragraph because such entity 
        is subject to legal restrictions enacted by another 
        governmental entity.
    (e) Rural Equity.--In awarding grants under this section, the 
Secretary--
            (1) shall, to the extent practicable, ensure that the 
        proportion of eligible tenants living in rural areas who will 
        receive legal assistance with grant funds awarded under this 
        section is not less than the overall proportion of eligible 
        tenants who live in rural areas; and
            (2) may consider geographic diversity and an applicant's 
        capacity to serve eligible tenants living in rural areas.
    (f) Supplement, Not Supplant.--Grant funds received under this Act 
shall be used to supplement and not supplant other funds used by the 
grantee to provide the legal assistance described in subsection (a).
    (g) Report.--For each year that an eligible recipient receives 
grant funds under this section, such eligible recipient shall submit to 
the Secretary a report which maintains attorney-client confidentiality 
and which excludes personally identifiable information about eligible 
tenants. Such report shall contain--
            (1) the total number of eligible tenants that were provided 
        legal assistance using such funds;
            (2) the estimated number of evictions avoided, delayed, or 
        resolved with other outcomes (such as negotiated settlements) 
        that are more favorable to the eligible tenant than the 
        outcomes that would have been expected in the absence of 
        counsel, and a brief description of the circumstances of each 
        case;
            (3) the number of eligible tenants that received legal 
        assistance that reside in a dwelling unit for which any subsidy 
        or assistance for occupancy in the dwelling unit is provided 
        under a program administered by Federal, State, or local 
        authorities; and
            (4) demographic information about eligible tenants that 
        received legal assistance, including race, national origin, 
        sex, disability status, household income, household size, 
        household familial status, age of the head of household, and 
        whether tenants live in an urban area, suburban area, or rural 
        area.
    (h) Definitions.--
            (1) Eligible recipient.--The term ``eligible recipient'' 
        means any nonprofit or governmental entity that has experience 
        providing no-cost legal assistance to low-income individuals.
            (2) Eligible tenant.--The term ``eligible tenant'' means an 
        individual who has an annual household income of--
                    (A) not more than 135 percent of the Federal 
                poverty guidelines issued by the Secretary of Health 
                and Human Services; or
                    (B) less than 333 percent of average fair market 
                rent in the county of the individual--
                            (i) in the case of a household comprised of 
                        one individual, for an efficiency; and
                            (ii) in the case of a household comprised 
                        of more than one individual, for a residence in 
                        which the number of bedrooms would not 
                        require--
                                    (I) more than two members of the 
                                household to share a bedroom;
                                    (II) children of different genders 
                                to share a bedroom with one another; or
                                    (III) a household member with a 
                                disability requiring medical equipment 
                                to share a bedroom.
            (3) Rural area.--The term ``rural area'' means a census 
        tract that is--
                    (A) outside of a metropolitan statistical area, as 
                designated by the Office of Management and Budget; or
                    (B) within a metropolitan statistical area, as 
                designated by the Office of Management and Budget, that 
                is outside of the metropolitan statistical area's 
                urbanized areas as designated by the rural-urban 
                commuting area code 1 (as determined by the Secretary 
                of Agriculture), and outside of tracts with a housing 
                density of over 64 housing units per square mile 
                located in the rural-urban commuting area code 2 (as 
                determined by the Secretary of Agriculture).
            (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Housing and Urban Development.
            (5) Suburban area.--The term ``suburban area'' means a 
        census tract with a population density of less than 2,500 
        inhabitants per square mile that is not a rural area.
            (6) Urban area.--The term ``urban area'' means a census 
        tract with a population density of at least 2,500 inhabitants 
        per square mile.
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