[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2486 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2486

 To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to award 
             grants for landlord-tenant mediation programs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 17, 2019

Ms. Hassan (for herself, Mr. Kaine, and Mr. Van Hollen) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                  Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to award 
             grants for landlord-tenant mediation programs.

    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 ``Prevent Evictions Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Covered grant.--The term ``covered grant'' means an 
        implementation grant or program expansion grant.
            (2) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means a 
        State or a court thereof, a political subdivision of a State or 
        a court thereof, a Tribal government, or any other appropriate 
        public or nonprofit entity as determined by the Secretary, that 
        is formulating or carrying out a program that primarily 
        involves meditation between landlords and tenants.
            (3) Implementation grant.--The term ``implementation 
        grant'' means a grant awarded under section 5(b).
            (4) Program expansion grant.--The term ``program expansion 
        grant'' means a grant awarded under section 5(c).
            (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Housing and Urban Development.
            (6) Small-dollar eviction.--The term ``small-dollar 
        eviction'' means an eviction resulting from an eviction case 
        brought against a tenant for nonpayment of rent in which the 
        unpaid amount is less than 1 month's rent.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Landlords often make their largest profit margins in 
        low-income neighborhoods. This is in part due to the difference 
        between the perceived risk of low-income tenants defaulting on 
        their rent and the actual risk.
            (2) A significant proportion of eviction money judgments--
        in some jurisdictions, potentially more than 40 percent--are 
        for less than 1 month's rent, based on median rent per census 
        tract.
            (3) According to the book ``Evicted: Poverty and Profit in 
        the American City'' by Matthew Desmond, families and 
        individuals who are evicted are more likely to experience a 
        decline in mental and physical health, have poor attendance in 
        school, and have more trouble holding a job.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) landlord-tenant mediation is a valuable and cost-
        effective way to keep tenants in their homes, and more 
        investment in that type of mediation is warranted;
            (2) there is a lack of research on the potential for 
        certain types of insurance to be cost-effective interventions 
        that keep tenants in their homes, which warrants future study;
            (3) eviction should be a last resort; and
            (4) reducing the number of small-dollar evictions will 
        produce a substantial return on investment for individuals and 
        families and for society as a whole.

SEC. 5. LANDLORD-TENANT MEDIATION COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary shall award competitive grants under 
subsections (b) and (c) to eligible entities to assist those entities 
in establishing and administering, or continuing, landlord-tenant 
mediation programs.
    (b) Implementation Grants.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall award competitive 
        grants to eligible entities to assist the entities in 
        establishing and administering landlord-tenant mediation 
        programs.
            (2) Term.--The term of an implementation grant shall be 2 
        years.
            (3) Amount.--The amount of an implementation grant shall be 
        not more than $1,500,000.
            (4) Use of funds.--An eligible entity may use an 
        implementation grant to establish--
                    (A) a statewide mediation program; or
                    (B) a mediation program in a political subdivision 
                of a State or in the jurisdiction of an Indian Tribe 
                that demonstrates a high need for such a program due 
                to--
                            (i) the rate of evictions in the political 
                        subdivision or Tribal jurisdiction; or
                            (ii) other characteristics of the political 
                        subdivision or Indian Tribe that contribute to 
                        the rate of evictions in the political 
                        subdivision or Tribal jurisdiction.
            (5) Federal share.--The Federal share of the cost of a 
        mediation program established using an implementation grant may 
        not exceed 50 percent.
    (c) Program Expansion Grants.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall award competitive 
        grants to eligible entities to assist the entities in 
        continuing activities related to landlord-tenant mediation.
            (2) Term.--The term of a program expansion grant shall be 3 
        years.
            (3) Amount.--The amount of a program expansion grant shall 
        be not more than $1,000,000.
            (4) Maintenance of effort.--Amounts made available to an 
        eligible entity under a program expansion grant shall be used 
        to supplement, and not supplant, contributions made by the 
        eligible entity for existing landlord-tenant mediation 
        activities.
    (d) General Rules for Covered Grants.--
            (1) Use of funds.--An eligible entity may use a covered 
        grant to pay for operating costs, staff salaries, mediator 
        compensation, information technology, interpreters, outreach 
        services, and recruitment.
            (2) Good faith participation.--An eligible entity that 
        receives a covered grant shall encourage each party 
        participating in the landlord-tenant mediation program funded 
        by the grant to make a good faith effort to discuss potential 
        resolutions.
            (3) Geographic and population diversity.--The Secretary 
        shall ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that 
        recipients of covered grants represent--
                    (A) diverse geographical areas of the United 
                States; and
                    (B) States, political subdivisions of States, and 
                Indian Tribes of varying population sizes.
            (4) Free to tenants.--A tenant may not be charged for 
        participating in landlord-tenant mediation funded by a covered 
        grant.
    (e) Oversight Requirements.--For each year of a covered grant 
received by an eligible entity, the eligible entity shall submit to the 
Secretary a report that--
            (1) describes how the eligible entity used the grant funds 
        during that year; and
            (2) includes any performance data, relating to programs 
        funded by the covered grant, that the eligible entity submitted 
        to a State or political subdivision thereof, if applicable.
    (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section such sums as may be necessary 
for fiscal year 2020 and each fiscal year thereafter.

SEC. 6. STUDY AND DEMONSTRATION OF EVICTION-PREVENTING INSURANCE 
              MODELS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 18 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall study, and submit to 
Congress a report on--
            (1) insurance models designed to reduce evictions or expand 
        access to rental opportunities for tenants, such as rental 
        payment insurance;
            (2) the cost of various insurance models described in 
        paragraph (1); and
            (3) the effects of various insurance models described in 
        paragraph (1) on tenants, landlords, and housing markets.
    (b) Objectives.--In conducting the study under subsection (a), the 
Secretary shall seek to--
            (1) better understand insurance models described in that 
        subsection that are not widely available in the United States;
            (2) assess the viability of the insurance models in United 
        States markets and how the insurance models could be 
        implemented through private, public, or subsidized programs;
            (3) determine whether insurance models in which the 
        insurance policy is purchased by the tenant, the landlord, or a 
        public entity would be most effective in achieving the 
        objectives under this subsection;
            (4) study any existing relevant insurance programs and the 
        effectiveness of those programs, both domestically and 
        internationally;
            (5) study how Federal mortgage insurance programs could 
        help inform the structure or breadth of the insurance models;
            (6) study how the insurance models could be structured in 
        order to best prevent evictions, particularly small-dollar 
        evictions;
            (7) study how to structure the insurance models in order to 
        prevent moral hazard;
            (8) study the potential for the insurance models to serve 
        as a bridge for tenants between--
                    (A) participating in more cost-intensive, longer-
                term housing programs, such as public housing under the 
                United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et 
                seq.) or rental assistance under section 8 of that Act 
                (42 U.S.C. 1437f); and
                    (B) leaving the programs described in subparagraph 
                (A) entirely;
            (9) study how the insurance models could be tailored to 
        target or benefit lower-income families or vulnerable renters; 
        and
            (10) study the extent to which the insurance models could 
        be paired with landlord-tenant mediation efforts.
    (c) Results of Study.--
            (1) Report.--The Secretary shall include in the report 
        under subsection (a)--
                    (A) a description of any insurance models that--
                            (i) have the strongest potential to achieve 
                        the objectives under subsection (b); and
                            (ii) could be tested through a 
                        demonstration project; and
                    (B) a proposal for a demonstration project to test 
                the most promising insurance model described in 
                subparagraph (A).
            (2) Demonstration project priority for grant recipients.--
        In selecting the jurisdiction in which to conduct the 
        demonstration project proposed under paragraph (1)(B), the 
        Secretary shall give priority to jurisdictions served by a 
        recipient of a covered grant.
            (3) Budget request.--After submitting the report under 
        subsection (a), the Secretary shall include in the first annual 
        budget request that the Secretary submits to Congress under 
        section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, a request for 
        funds for the demonstration proposal described in paragraph 
        (1)(B).
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