117 HR 6426 IH: Empowering Local Officials to Combat Homelessness Act of 2022 U.S. House of Representatives 2022-01-19 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I117th CONGRESS2d SessionH. R. 6426IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESJanuary 19, 2022Mr. Gooden of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial ServicesA BILLTo increase accountability, transparency, and local control of governing boards under the Continuum of Care program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Empowering Local Officials to Combat Homelessness Act of 2022.

2.

Continuum of care board requirements

Section 426 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11386) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:(h)

Continuum of care boards

(1)

HUD requirements

To be eligible to act as a governing board for a continuum of care assisted under this subtitle, a continuum of care board shall comply with such requirements as the Secretary shall establish to ensure the following:(A)

Membership

A continuum of care board shall have at all times—(i)at least one member who is the mayor or other chief executive officer of a unit of general local government within the geographic area served by the continuum of care; and(ii)at least one member who is a law enforcement officer of a law enforcement agency whose jurisdiction includes any area within the geographic area served by the continuum of care.(B)

Transparency

A continuum of care board shall comply with guidelines, that the Secretary shall establish, that—(i)provide requirements and best practices guidance regarding the scoring or awarding grants and preventing, monitoring, and reporting conflicts of interest among members of a continuum of care board; and(ii)require each continuum of care board to submit to the Secretary, for each grant cycle, the scoring criteria used in awarding grants.(2)

GAO requirements

The Comptroller General of the United States shall—(A)provide technical assistance to the Secretary in establishing the guidelines under paragraph (1)(B); and(B)conduct oversight of grant amounts distributed pursuant to this subtitle for any continuum of care program that has been notified by the Secretary, the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Comptroller General, or any relevant State agency during the past 36 months of a violation relating to the use of funds provided under this subtitle, to ensure use of such grant amounts in accordance with this subtitle.(i)

Applicability

This subsection may not be construed to alter or affect any other requirement established by the Secretary with respect to continuum of care boards..