Title: HELP Act of 2020
Policy area: Housing and Community Development

Summary:
Housing Emergencies Lifeline Program Act of 2020 or the HELP Act of 2020
This bill requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to establish a database of information regarding evictions from federally assisted dwellings, limits the inclusion of information relating to landlord-tenant actions in consumer reports, and otherwise provides eviction-related assistance and services.
Specifically, the bill requires states and local entities receiving federal housing assistance to submit to HUD, for inclusion in the database, certain information regarding evictions from assisted dwelling units in the past year. Such information must include, among other things, the reason for eviction and whether the household was represented by legal counsel in the proceedings.
Additionally, consumer reporting agencies may include an adverse item of information relating to a landlord-tenant action in a consumer report only if the landlord prevailed in the action and the tenant was an adult on the date the court claim was filed. Any such information must be removed from a consumer report one year after the date of the action.
Further, the bill authorizes additional Emergency Solutions Grants to provide legal counsel and pay court fees for tenants subject to or at risk of eviction.
Finally, HUD must require owners of federally assisted rental units to annually provide information to each tenant regarding the rights and responsibilities of the owner with respect to eviction and local organizations and resources that can provide assistance in eviction-related matters. HUD must also establish an eviction hotline to provide assistance to tenants of these units.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7847 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7847

To create a database of eviction information, establish grant programs 
 for eviction prevention and legal aid, and limit use of housing court-
      related records in consumer reports, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 29, 2020

  Ms. Pressley (for herself and Ms. DeLauro) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To create a database of eviction information, establish grant programs 
 for eviction prevention and legal aid, and limit use of housing court-
      related records in consumer reports, 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 ``Housing Emergencies Lifeline Program 
Act of 2020'' or the ``HELP Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) housing is fundamentally an issue of economic and 
        racial justice and a critical determinant of health;
            (2) the 2008 financial crisis was a Great Depression-level 
        event for Black Americans, wiping out decades of gains in Black 
        homeownership, which has now fallen to its lowest rate since 
        the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968;
            (3) Black borrowers were 76 percent more likely to have 
        lost their home to foreclosure than White borrowers during the 
        foreclosure crisis;
            (4) Black and Hispanic households continue to be about 
        twice as likely as White households to rent their homes;
            (5) in 2016, 58 percent of Black household heads and 54 
        percent of Hispanic household heads were renting their homes, 
        compared with 28 percent of White household heads;
            (6) while cost burdens affect households of all races and 
        ethnicities, Black and Brown renters are much more likely to be 
        burdened, with 55 percent of Black renters considered to be 
        rent burdened compared to only 43 percent of White renters;
            (7) Black households account for 12 percent of all 
        households in the United States, but 19 percent of all renters 
        and 26 of all renter households with extremely low incomes;
            (8) prior to the coronavirus pandemic, it was estimated 
        that around 3.7 million evictions are filed every year, a rate 
        of about 7 every minute;
            (9) across the United States, one in 20 renters faces an 
        eviction every year, but for Black renters, the number is one 
        in 11;
            (10) every day families are displaced by the eviction 
        crisis, a reality that is only further exacerbated by the 
        COVID-19 pandemic and that falls disproportionately on Black 
        renters, and particularly Black women renters;
            (11) the Department of Housing and Urban Development does 
        not require the reporting or collection of eviction data, 
        including among households in federally assisted housing, and 
        should be required to do so;
            (12) the American Civil Liberties Union's analysis of 
        Eviction Lab data found that, on average, ``Black renters had 
        evictions filed against them at nearly twice the rate of White 
        renters'' and that Black women specifically were filed against 
        for eviction at ``double the rate of White renters or higher in 
        17 of 36 [S]tates'';
            (13) right to counsel is a matter of racial justice, 
        equity, and ensuring equal protection under the law;
            (14) nationally, it is estimated that more than 90 percent 
        of landlords are represented in housing court proceedings, 
        compared to less than 10 percent of tenants in such 
        proceedings;
            (15) a Massachusetts study found that tenants provided full 
        representation were twice as likely to remain in their homes, 
        saved 4 times as much rent, and paid $0 to their landlord as 
        compared to those receiving limited or no legal assistance; and
            (16) a California study of the Shriver Civil Counsel 
        Program found that 91 percent of Shriver cases ended with the 
        eviction record sealed, 81 percent with the eviction not 
        reported to a credit agency, and 71 percent with a neutral 
        reference provided by the landlord, tenants in such cases saved 
        nearly $800 more in reduced rent and other fees while paying 
        holdover damages or attorney's fees only half as often, and 71 
        percent of represented clients that had been required to move 
        had obtained a new rental unit, compared to 43 percent of 
        unrepresented tenants.

SEC. 3. DATABASE OF EVICTION INFORMATION.

    (a) Reports by Housing Providers.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban 
        Development shall require each State and local entity that 
        receives covered housing assistance to submit to the Secretary 
        annual reports under this section regarding evictions from 
        assisted dwelling units of the covered housing occurring during 
        the preceding year.
            (2) Contents.--Each report submitted pursuant to subsection 
        (a) shall include--
                    (A) for each household subject to an eviction 
                proceeding during the year which the report covers--
                            (i) the reason or reasons that the eviction 
                        proceeding was undertaken and, in the case of 
                        any eviction proceeding undertaken in whole or 
                        in part based on an arrearage in rent owed, the 
                        amount of such arrearage and the amount of the 
                        tenant's required contribution toward rent;
                            (ii) the date on which the household was 
                        ordered to be evicted;
                            (iii) the address of the dwelling unit from 
                        which the household was evicted;
                            (iv) whether the household was represented 
                        by legal counsel in any eviction proceeding, if 
                        such information is available;
                            (v) the number of days the household was 
                        given to vacate the dwelling unit, if such 
                        information is available; and
                            (vi) whether a writ of execution was issued 
                        in regards to the eviction; and
                    (B) for each individual in any household subject to 
                an eviction proceeding during the year which the report 
                covers--
                            (i) the name of the individual;
                            (ii) the annual income of the individual in 
                        the fiscal year prior to the year during which 
                        the individual was evicted, if available;
                            (iii) the disability status of the 
                        individual evicted, if available;
                            (iv) any available demographic information 
                        about the individual including race, ethnicity, 
                        age, and gender;
                            (v) any foster care history for the 
                        individual, if available;
                            (vi) any serious physical health problems 
                        or serious mental illness of the individual, if 
                        such information is available;
                            (vii) any history of prior homelessness of 
                        the individual, if such information is 
                        available; and
                            (viii) whether the individual has a 
                        criminal record, if such information is 
                        available.
            (3) Data requirements.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban 
        Development shall develop requirements for States and local 
        entities that receive covered housing assistance that--
                    (A) provide that the provision of the information 
                being collected under this subsection shall be 
                voluntary on the part of any individual or household 
                who is or was a tenant in an assisted dwelling unit of 
                covered housing;
                    (B) provide limitations on how long the information 
                described in paragraph (2) shall be retained;
                    (C) establish data privacy and security 
                requirements for the information described in paragraph 
                (2) that include appropriate measures to ensure that 
                the privacy of the individuals and households is 
                protected and that the information, including any 
                personally identifiable information, is collected and 
                used only for the purpose of submitting reports under 
                paragraph (1); and
                    (D) confidentiality protections for data collected 
                about any individuals who are survivors of intimate 
                partner violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
    (b) Database.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a database 
        for collecting and maintaining information submitted in reports 
        pursuant to subsection (a).
            (2) Privacy protections.--The Secretary shall establish 
        appropriate measures regarding information in the database to 
        ensure that the privacy of the individuals and households is 
        protected and that any personally identifiable information is 
        not disclosed.
            (3) Disaggregation.--To the extent possible, such database 
        shall be disaggregated by race, gender, income, and disability.

SEC. 4. ASSISTANCE FOR EVICTION RELATED LEGAL AID.

    There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 
$10,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2021, to remain available until 
expended, for assistance 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.), to be used only for--
            (1) providing legal counsel for tenants subject to or at 
        risk of eviction with regard to any eviction-related legal 
        proceeding; and
            (2) costs of any court fees associated with an eviction-
        related legal proceeding for a tenant (excluding any attorneys 
        fees for the attorney of the landlord of the tenant).

SEC. 5. CONSUMER REPORTS.

    The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) by inserting after section 605B the following:

``SEC. 605C. ADVERSE INFORMATION RELATING TO HOUSING COURT RECORDS.

    ``(a) In General.--A consumer reporting agency may only furnish a 
consumer report containing an adverse item of information relating to a 
landlord tenant action if--
            ``(1) the landlord in the action prevailed in a final 
        judgment; and
            ``(2) the tenant in such action was not a minor on the date 
        that such court claim was filed.
    ``(b) 1 Year Limitation.--A consumer reporting agency shall remove 
from a consumer report any adverse item of information relating to a 
landlord tenant action not later than one year after the date of such 
landlord tenant action.''; and
            (2) in the table of contents, by inserting after the item 
        relating to section 605B the following new item:

``605C. Adverse information relating to housing court records.''.

SEC. 6. EVICTION INFORMATION.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary shall, not later than 1 year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, issue rules that require each 
owner of a covered federally assisted rental dwelling unit to ensure 
that each tenant of such dwelling unit owned by such owner receives 
information not less than once each year about--
            (1) the rights and responsibilities of such owner with 
        regard to eviction; and
            (2) local organizations and resources that can provide 
        assistance in eviction-related matters.
    (b) Hotline.--The Secretary shall, not later than 1 year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, establish a hotline to provide 
assistance with regard to eviction-related matters to tenants of 
covered federally assisted rental dwelling units.

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

    (a) For purposes of this Act:
            (1) Assistance.--The term ``assistance'' means any grant, 
        loan, subsidy, contract, cooperative agreement, or other form 
        of financial assistance, but such term does not include the 
        insurance or guarantee of a loan, mortgage, or pool of loans or 
        mortgages.
            (2) Covered federally assisted rental dwelling unit.--The 
        term ``covered federally assisted rental dwelling unit'' means 
        a residential dwelling unit that is made available for rental 
        and for which assistance is provided, or that is part of a 
        housing project for which assistance is provided, under any 
        program administered by the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
        Development, including--
                    (A) the public housing program under the United 
                States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.);
                    (B) the program for rental assistance under section 
                8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 
                1437f);
                    (C) the HOME Investment Partnerships program under 
                title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 
                Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12721 et seq.);
                    (D) title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 
                Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360 et seq.);
                    (E) the Housing Trust Fund program under section 
                1338 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 
                1992 (12 U.S.C. 4568);
                    (F) the program for supportive housing for the 
                elderly under section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959 
                (12 U.S.C. 1701q);
                    (G) the program for supportive housing for persons 
                with disabilities under section 811 of the Cranston-
                Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 
                8013);
                    (H) the AIDS Housing Opportunities program under 
                subtitle D of title VIII of the Cranston-Gonzalez 
                National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12901 et 
                seq.);
                    (I) the program for Native American housing under 
                the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-
                Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4101 et seq.); and
                    (J) the program for housing assistance for Native 
                Hawaiians under title VIII of the Native American 
                Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 
                (25 U.S.C. 4221 et seq.).
            (3) Covered housing.--The term ``covered housing'' means a 
        dwelling unit assisted with amounts made available, or a loan 
        or mortgage made, insured, or guaranteed, under any of the 
        following programs:
                    (A) The programs for tenant- and project-based 
                rental assistance under section 8 of the United States 
                Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f).
                    (B) The program for public housing under the United 
                States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.).
                    (C) The program for supportive housing for the 
                elderly under section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959 
                (12 U.S.C. 1701q).
                    (D) The program for supportive housing for persons 
                with disabilities under section 811 of the Cranston-
                Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 
                8013).
                    (E) The community development block grant program 
                under title I of the Housing and Community Development 
                Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.).
                    (F) The HOME Investment Partnerships program under 
                titles I and II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National 
                Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12704 et seq.).
                    (G) The program for housing opportunities for 
                persons with AIDS under subtitle D of title VIII of the 
                Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 
                U.S.C. 12901 et seq.).
                    (H) The programs for homeless assistance under 
                title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act 
                (42 U.S.C. 11361 et seq.).
            (4) Covered housing assistance.--The term ``covered housing 
        assistance'' means assistance under any program specified in 
        paragraph (3).
            (5) Legal counsel.--The term ``legal counsel'' means full 
        representation by an attorney throughout proceedings in issue.
            (6) Owner.--For the purposes of this Act, the term 
        ``owner'' means any private person or entity, including a 
        cooperative, an agency of the Federal Government, or a public 
        housing agency, having the legal right to lease or sublease 
        dwelling units.
            (7) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means Secretary of 
        Housing and Urban Development.
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