[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5061 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5061

To authorize a grant program for the development and implementation of 
    housing supply and affordability plans, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 17, 2020

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize a grant program for the development and implementation of 
    housing supply and affordability plans, 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 Supply and Affordability 
Act''.

SEC. 2. LOCAL HOUSING POLICY GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the 
        Department of Housing and Urban Development.
            (2) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means a 
        State, a political subdivision of a State, a regional coalition 
        of political subdivisions of States, or an Indian Tribe that--
                    (A) demonstrates, with respect to the area under 
                the jurisdiction of the State, political subdivision, 
                regional coalition, or Indian Tribe--
                            (i) rising housing costs or a reasonable 
                        expectation that housing costs will rise in the 
                        area; and
                            (ii) a pattern of imbalance between the 
                        availability of jobs and housing in the area;
                    (B) if applying for a planning grant--
                            (i) intends to develop, or is in the 
                        process of developing, a housing policy plan; 
                        and
                            (ii) demonstrates an intent to use a 
                        portion of the planning grant to engage with 
                        community stakeholders in developing a housing 
                        policy plan; and
                    (C) if applying for an implementation grant--
                            (i) has adopted and plans to implement, or 
                        is in the process of implementing, a housing 
                        policy plan; and
                            (ii) demonstrates the engagement of 
                        community stakeholders in developing the 
                        housing policy plan.
            (3) Housing policy plan.--The term ``housing policy plan'' 
        means a comprehensive plan of an eligible entity to, with 
        respect to the area under the jurisdiction of the eligible 
        entity--
                    (A) increase the housing supply in the area, while 
                avoiding the displacement of the residents of the area;
                    (B) increase the affordability of housing in the 
                area; and
                    (C) reduce barriers to housing development in the 
                area.
            (4) Implementation grant.--The term ``implementation 
        grant'' means a grant awarded under subsection (b).
            (5) Indian tribe.--The term ``Indian Tribe'' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self-
        Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).
            (6) Planning grant.--The term ``planning grant'' means a 
        grant awarded under subsection (c).
            (7) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Housing and Urban Development, acting through the Assistant 
        Secretary for Community Planning and Development, in 
        coordination with--
                    (A) the Office of Economic Resilience of the Office 
                of Community Planning and Development of the 
                Department;
                    (B) the Office of Policy Development and Research 
                of the Department;
                    (C) the Office of Fair Housing and Equal 
                Opportunity of the Department; and
                    (D) the Office of Housing of the Department.
            (8) State.--The term ``State'' means any State of the 
        United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 
        Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the 
        Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any 
        possession of the United States.
    (b) Planning Grants.--The Secretary may award grants on a 
competitive basis to eligible entities for the purpose of developing 
and evaluating housing policy plans.
    (c) Implementation Grants.--The Secretary may award grants on a 
competitive basis to eligible entities for the purpose of implementing 
housing policy plans.
    (d) Applications.--
            (1) In general.--An eligible entity desiring a grant under 
        this section shall submit to the Secretary an application at 
        such time, in such manner, and containing such information as 
        the Secretary may require.
            (2) Priority.--In awarding grants under this section, the 
        Secretary shall give priority to an eligible entity that--
                    (A) has or is likely to develop a housing policy 
                plan that will--
                            (i) improve housing supply and 
                        affordability;
                            (ii) reduce barriers to affordable housing 
                        development; and
                            (iii) avoid the displacement of residents 
                        by new housing developments in the area under 
                        the jurisdiction of the eligible entity;
                    (B) intends to leverage and efficiently use funds 
                from another Federal, State, or local assistance 
                program relating to housing in developing or 
                implementing a housing policy plan, including--
                            (i) 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.); or
                            (ii) the HOME Investment Partnerships 
                        Program authorized under title II of the 
                        Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing 
                        Act (42 U.S.C. 12721 et seq.);
                    (C) intends to--
                            (i) increase the supply and affordability 
                        of housing that is located--
                                    (I) near local transportation 
                                options; and
                                    (II) in areas in which a 
                                significant or expanding supply of jobs 
                                is concentrated; and
                            (ii) coordinate with local transportation 
                        and workforce agencies in accomplishing the 
                        increase described in clause (i); or
                    (D) is a regional coalition of political 
                subdivisions of States.
            (3) Degree of priority commensurate with degree of 
        compliance.--The Secretary shall base the degree of priority 
        given to an eligible entity under paragraph (2) on the number 
        of subparagraphs under that paragraph that the eligible entity 
        has satisfied, relative to the number of such subparagraphs 
        that each other eligible entity applying for a grant under this 
        section has satisfied.
    (e) Matching Requirement.--
            (1) In general.--An eligible entity that receives a grant 
        under this section shall provide non-Federal contributions in 
        an amount equal to the amount of the grant.
            (2) Eligible matching funds.--If an eligible entity uses 
        funds from another Federal assistance program relating to 
        housing in developing or implementing a housing policy plan for 
        which the eligible entity also receives a grant under this 
        section, any non-Federal contribution made by the eligible 
        entity as part of that Federal assistance program shall be 
        counted towards the requirement under paragraph (1).
    (f) Use of Funds.--
            (1) Planning grants.--An eligible entity receiving a 
        planning grant may use funds from the planning grant to finance 
        activities to help develop and evaluate a housing policy plan, 
        including--
                    (A) technical assistance;
                    (B) market evaluations;
                    (C) code writing assistance;
                    (D) design options; and
                    (E) stakeholder outreach and education.
            (2) Implementation and planning grants.--An eligible entity 
        receiving a grant under this section shall use a portion of the 
        funds from the grant to submit the report required under 
        subsection (g)(1).
    (g) Reports and Study.--
            (1) Grant recipient reports.--Not later than 180 days after 
        the date on which an eligible entity receives a grant under 
        this section, and not less frequently than quarterly thereafter 
        for a 3-year period, the eligible entity shall submit to the 
        Secretary a report that includes--
                    (A) a description of the expenditures the eligible 
                entity has made with funds from the grant;
                    (B) for an eligible entity receiving a planning 
                grant, a summary of the progress of the eligibility 
                entity towards finalizing a housing policy plan; and
                    (C) for an eligible entity receiving an 
                implementation grant, data relating to the success of 
                the implementation of the housing policy plan of the 
                eligible entity.
            (2) Secretary study and report.--
                    (A) In general.--Not later than 5 years after the 
                date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 
                conduct a study on--
                            (i) the impact of implementation grants and 
                        planning grants on the areas under the 
                        jurisdiction of eligible entities receiving 
                        those grants; and
                            (ii) successful strategies from housing 
                        policy plans that were impactful in--
                                    (I) expanding the housing supply; 
                                and
                                    (II) increasing the quantity of 
                                quality and affordable housing, while 
                                avoiding the displacement of the 
                                residents of an area.
                    (B) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date 
                on which the Secretary completes the study required 
                under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall submit to 
                the appropriate committees of Congress a report on the 
                study.
    (h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary for each of fiscal years 2021 through 
2025 $300,000,000 to carry out this Act.
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