[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3305 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3305

 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 13, 2020

  Mr. Bennet introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
    referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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) Definitions.--In this Act:
            (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 the average fair 
                market rent in the county in which the individual 
                resides--
                            (i) in the case of a household comprised of 
                        1 individual, for an efficiency; and
                            (ii) in the case of a household comprised 
                        of more than 1 individual, for a residence in 
                        which the number of bedrooms would not 
                        require--
                                    (I) more than 2 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)(i) within a metropolitan statistical area, as 
                designated by the Office of Management and Budget, that 
                is outside of the urbanized areas of the metropolitan 
                statistical area as designated by the rural-urban 
                commuting area code 1, as determined by the Secretary 
                of Agriculture; and
                    (ii) outside of tracts with a housing density of 
                more than 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 not less than 2,500 
        inhabitants per square mile.
    (b) Establishment.--The Secretary 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.
    (c) 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.
    (d) 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 
        (e); and
            (2) give priority to applicants with the greatest number of 
        points under the system established under paragraph (1).
    (e) Preference Factors.--The preference factors for which an 
applicant shall be awarded points under the system established pursuant 
to subsection (d)(1) are as follows:
            (1) Eviction rate preference.--
                    (A) In general.--The Secretary shall award points 
                if the applicant will use grant funds awarded under 
                this section to provide services in census tracts with 
                high rates of eviction.
                    (B) Determination.--In making a determination under 
                subparagraph (A), 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.
                    (C) Limitations.--The Secretary may not--
                            (i) require applicants to provide data on 
                        the rates of eviction in the census tract in 
                        which the applicant intends to provide 
                        services; or
                            (ii) award more points to applicants who 
                        provide the data described in clause (i) than 
                        to applicants who do not provide that data.
            (2) Capacity preference.--
                    (A) In general.--The Secretary shall award points 
                if the Secretary determines that the applicant has a 
                greater capacity to produce more favorable outcomes 
                regarding eviction for eligible tenants.
                    (B) Considerations.--In making a determination 
                under subparagraph (A), the Secretary may consider the 
                applicant's--
                            (i) past experience in producing favorable 
                        outcomes for households facing eviction;
                            (ii) proposed use of grant funds to 
                        increase staff resources to provide legal 
                        assistance;
                            (iii) demonstrated past effective use of 
                        resources to provide legal assistance;
                            (iv) ability to provide services to 
                        eligible tenants with limited English 
                        proficiency; and
                            (v) ability to effectively communicate with 
                        eligible tenants with disabilities.
            (3) Preference for government entities that promote tenant 
        rights.--
                    (A) In general.--The Secretary shall award points 
                to an applicant that is a governmental entity if the 
                applicant has in effect laws or regulations that 
                promote tenant rights.
                    (B) Considerations.--In making a determination 
                under subparagraph (A), the Secretary--
                            (i) 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 1 month's rent; and
                                    (VI) the expeditious return of any 
                                security deposit after terminating a 
                                lease; and
                            (ii) may consider, with lesser weight given 
                        than the weight given to those rights described 
                        in clause (i), 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.
                    (C) Limitation.--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 the 
                entity is subject to legal restrictions enacted by 
                another governmental entity.
    (f) 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 the capacity of 
        an applicant to serve eligible tenants living in rural areas.
    (g) Supplement, Not Supplant.--Grant funds received under this 
section shall be used to supplement and not supplant other funds used 
by the grantee to provide the legal assistance described in subsection 
(b).
    (h) Report.--For each year that an eligible recipient receives 
grant funds under this section, the eligible recipient shall submit to 
the Secretary a report that--
            (1) maintains attorney-client confidentiality and excludes 
        personally identifiable information about eligible tenants; and
            (2) contains--
                    (A) the total number of eligible tenants that were 
                provided legal assistance using the grant funds;
                    (B) 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;
                    (C) 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 a Federal, State, or local authority; and
                    (D) 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.
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