[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 46 (Thursday, March 11, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1496-S1498]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT OF 2021
Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, last week the Congress passed and
tomorrow the President will sign into law the American Rescue Plan Act
of 2021, which includes $10 billion to respond to COVID-19
internationally. While this is a tiny fraction of the $1.9 trillion in
the Rescue Plan, it is critically necessary. As long as the virus
continues to spread and mutate into more transmissible and deadlier
variants in other countries, it will remain a threat to Americans.
Within that amount, $580 million is included to support the U.N.
Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19 through U.S. voluntary
contributions to international organizations, including the World
Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNICEF, the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees, and other international organizations.
UNICEF offers critical operations and technical assistance to
ministries of health and education around the world as countries
continue to adapt their health and education activities to meet COVID-
19 protocols. UNICEF also focuses on strengthening risk communication
and community engagement to ensure that women, children, and their
families know how to prevent COVID-19; providing supplies to
communities and educational and health facilities to support the
prevention and treatment of COVID-19, including WASH supplies and
personal protective equipment; and ensuring that children and women
have continued access to basic healthcare, education, child protection,
and gender-based violence services, including ensuring access to
immunizations, prenatal and postnatal care, and HIV care in an
environment safe from infection by the virus.
It is obvious that UNICEF has a critical role to play in the
international COVID-19 response. The same can be said of the World Food
Programme, UNHCR, and WHO. I am pleased that Congress was able to
provide additional funding for these and other international
organizations to support their lifesaving work.
Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I rise to talk about the passage of the
historic American Rescue Plan. This monumental legislation will help us
get this pandemic under control and help families and small businesses
weather the economic crisis. It includes critical funding for vaccine
production, testing, and additional PPE. It includes the resources we
need to help kids get back to school safely, enhanced unemployment to
help workers who are suffering during this pandemic, food assistance
for low-income families, and stimulus checks to help make ends meet
with hours cut and expenses rising. It also makes long-overdue
enhancements to EITC and CTC that will help lift millions of children
out of poverty. And it provides resources to keep families in their
homes during this pandemic.
First, it provides critical assistance for renters and people
experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Before the pandemic, an
estimated 568,000 people, many with underlying health conditions, were
already experiencing homelessness. One out of four renters was paying
more than half of their income in rent, leaving too many making
impossible choices between essential expenses or even at risk of
eviction. COVID-19 has both revealed and exacerbated these housing
problems. One out of five renters reports being behind on rent, and
renters were an estimated $57 billion dollars behind on rent as of
January.
I am pleased that the Senate-approved bill includes new resources to
assist people experiencing or at risk of homelessness through emergency
housing vouchers and homelessness assistance and supportive services
administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as
well as emergency assistance for rural housing for residents of
properties financed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural
Housing Service.
In addition, the American Rescue Plan provides $21.6 billion in
emergency rental assistance through States, localities, and
territories, including $2.5 billion reserved for high-need grantees.
This funding supplements the $25 billion in emergency rental
assistance funding provided by Congress in December, Section 501 of the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Public Law 116-260, Section 501,
but includes additional flexibilities to ensure grantees can better
stabilize renters. The Biden administration should again extend the
Federal eviction moratorium that expires on March 31, 2021, so that
grantees have time to distribute assistance to renters in need to
prevent evictions and displacement.
With the emergency rental assistance provided in this bill, renters
will be able to receive up to 18 months of financial assistance,
including future rent and utility payments, including pad rents in
manufactured housing communities, and unpaid rent or utility bills that
have accumulated. Renters can also receive assistance for
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other housing-related expenses necessary to promote housing stability,
such as but not limited to security deposits; relocation and rental
fees for displaced households; late fees related to a former or current
rental unit; and internet service provided to the rental unit. Section
3201 does not preclude grantees from continuing payment processes
provided in section 501. These processes are the provisions that govern
payments of rent and utility assistance either to property owners and
utilities or directly to tenants and the application for assistance by
landlords and owners under subsection (f). Additionally, funds can be
used to provide housing stability services, such as but not limited to
case management; tenant-landlord mediation; legal services related to
eviction and housing stability; housing counseling; fair housing
counseling; and specialized services for people with disabilities,
people with chronic health conditions, seniors, or survivors of
domestic violence or human trafficking. Similar to section 501, section
3201 permits grantees to use a certain percentage of their funds on
administrative costs to support eligible program activities, including
the provision of financial assistance and housing stability services.
After deducting the amount grantees may use on program administration,
grantees may also use up to 10 percent of their funds on providing
housing stability services. As in section 501, funds are provided to
States to assist renters throughout the State, including in rural
communities, as well as cities and counties that receive a direct
allocation.
Given how badly these resources are needed, the Department of
Treasury and grantees must do all they can to implement this rental
assistance program quickly and successfully and not create any
artificial barriers to assistance. With some benefits provided by the
CARES Act, documentation requirements to prove eligibility have erected
artificial barriers that have cut people off from the benefits Congress
intended them to receive. Indeed, diverse stakeholders, including
tenant advocates, landlords, and State and local government agencies,
have raised concerns that such requirements that have been applied in
existing emergency rental assistance programs have prevented renters
from completing applications and are overly burdensome for program
staff. It is critical that any renters who are struggling to pay their
rent during the pandemic are not barred from accessing this assistance
due to cumbersome documentation requirements or other barriers. An
applicant's simple attestation should be the only documentation
required to meet program eligibility requirements. Additionally,
grantees may continue the income assessment procedures pursuant to
section 501 to determine eligibility.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had broad impacts on individuals, families,
businesses, availability of government services and supports, and
throughout our economy. It has changed where and how many people work.
It has made it more difficult not just to keep a job but also to find a
new job, to get enough hours, and to find childcare or someone to care
for a sick loved one. All of these challenges brought on by the
pandemic have made it more difficult for families to make ends meet.
These effects are likely to exist for months and years to come. Given
these factors, Treasury and grantees should broadly read the
requirement regarding the connection between a renter's hardship and
the coronavirus pandemic when determining the eligibility of the
renter. As the language states, the hardship must have occurred
``during or due, directly or indirectly, to the coronavirus pandemic.''
The economic effects of the pandemic will be felt long after the virus
is contained. Certain industries and communities have been particularly
hard-hit from the pandemic and will likely take years to recover.
Treasury should issue guidance that makes this point clear to ensure
renters are not cut off from needed assistance as they try to recover
from economic downturns caused by the pandemic.
Section 3201 also provides that after October 1, 2022, certain
grantees may expend funds on ``other affordable rental housing and
eviction prevention activities'' that benefit any very low-income
renter household. Such activities can include but are not limited to
affordable housing development, preservation, or acquisition, and other
forms of rental assistance and eviction prevention activities targeted
to very low-income renters.
To ensure continuity in monitoring funds provided by section 3201 and
section 501 and ease of grantee implementation, Treasury should
maintain the same reporting requirements that were included in section
501.
The committee encourages the administration to create and maintain a
central public repository of information on State and local rental
assistance programs, which at a minimum identifies the program's
administering agency and contact information, so that renters and
landlords can more easily identify available assistance.
Finally, to the extent there is any confusion with regard to the
taxability of assistance, Treasury, in consultation with the Internal
Revenue Service, should provide guidance to clarify this for grantees
and program participants.
The American Rescue Plan also provides vital home ownership
assistance to families across the country. This much-needed assistance
would not have been possible without the dedication and diligence of
our colleague, Senator Jack Reed, who is the author of the Homeowner
Assistance Fund we have enacted. For nearly a year, he has been leading
the charge to keep families in their homes and avoid another
foreclosure crisis, and I am grateful to him for his leadership on this
issue.
There is no question that homeowners are struggling as a result of
this pandemic. In January, more than 3.3 million homeowners were more
than 30 days behind on their payments or in foreclosure. More than 2
million households are more than 3 months behind, putting them at risk
of foreclosure. Many of these households are in forbearance, but others
are not. And the number of homeowners behind on mortgage payments
doesn't account for other costs, such as utility and insurance bills,
that are building up not just for homeowners with a mortgage but also
for the more than one-third of homeowners who own their home outright.
Black, Latino, and Asian households are more likely to report that
they have fallen behind on their mortgages. As with so much else in
this health and economic crisis, the burden is falling the heaviest on
the communities of color and low-income communities.
We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past. We cannot allow this
pandemic to become a housing crisis that exacerbates economic
inequality and widens the racial home ownership gap. This time, we must
give communities the tools to help homeowners weather this crisis and
remain in their homes.
Many homeowners who are in forbearance have loans backed by a Federal
agency or Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Throughout this pandemic, these
agencies have extended forbearance and post-forbearance options to help
borrowers resume making regular payments at some point or get an
affordable loan modification. Many borrowers in forbearance today will
also be able to get back on track with these existing options. But
these options won't help all homeowners. Many homeowners do not have
the benefit of the loan workout options that come with a federally
backed or Fannie Mae- or Freddie Mac-backed loan, have accumulated
other utility or housing costs, or have a manufactured home loan that
is not a mortgage. And still other homeowners have a federally backed
loan but, given the severe disruption to our economy, just need more
help than is available through their mortgage program. These homeowners
will need direct assistance, and they will need it quickly.
That is exactly what the Homeowner Assistance Fund will do. The
American Rescue Plan Act's Homeowner Assistance Fund creates a nearly
$10 billion fund at the Department of the Treasury to provide resources
to States, Tribal governments, and Tribally designated housing entities
to help homeowners staying in their homes. Treasury will allocate funds
among the States and other eligible recipients, taking into account the
number of individuals in a State who have been unemployed in recent
months, as well as the number of homeowners who have fallen at least a
month behind on their mortgage, regardless of whether they are in
forbearance, or who are in foreclosure. States and eligible recipients
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will use the funds Congress has provided in this bill for direct relief
to eligible homeowners and to set up, staff, and administer the
programs providing that relief.
As Congress has established in the bill, direct relief through the
Homeowner Assistance Fund can include help with missed mortgage
payments, financial help to make a mortgage modification viable,
assistance with broadband and utility costs; and other relief that
homeowners need to get back on track financially. At least 60 percent
of a State or other eligible entity's funds must go to households at or
below 100 percent of area median income or households below 100 percent
of the national median income, whichever is higher, to ensure that help
reaches those homeowners who need it most. Including homeowners with
incomes of up to 100 percent of the national median income when that is
higher than the area median income will ensure that funds adequately
reach homeowners in Tribal areas and rural areas, where localized
incomes may be lower. Remaining assistance funds are targeted to
socially disadvantaged individuals, including homeowners of color, who
too often are left behind in our economy and who data indicate are at
disproportionate risk of foreclosure.
While Congress has authorized the program, the intent is for Treasury
to play a vital role in making this program a reality by administering
the Homeowner Assistance Fund prudently and flexibly to keep the
greatest number of families in their homes. In the days ahead, Treasury
must provide States and other eligible entities with the certainty they
need to accept and distribute these funds efficiently. Treasury must
set clear expectations for the types of eligible programs States can
administer and the guidelines States must follow to administer these
programs equitably and in accordance with the law. That includes
ensuring States and other eligible entities understand up front that
they can use a portion of the funds provided through the Homeowner
Assistance Fund to establish and administer their programs, so that
States can immediately get the systems and staffing in place to put
funds into the hands of the people who need them. And if there is any
uncertainty among States or individuals who might apply for assistance,
Treasury should immediately clarify that any assistance received
through the Homeowner Assistance Fund is not income for a homeowner.
Treasury must also establish reporting to ensure that funds are
reaching the households who need them most. Both to comply with the law
and to ensure funds are being used equitably, Treasury must establish
periodic public reporting by State of key metrics, including the amount
of funds disbursed, the acceptance rate of applicants, reasons
applicants are denied, the number of individuals assisted, the number
of households assisted by income range, the types of assistance
provided, the average amount of assistance per household, and household
outcomes. These data should also be assessed by race, ethnicity,
gender, and other factors to determine compliance with all laws,
including the Fair Housing Act. While Fair Housing Act enforcement
remains the jurisdiction of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development and the Department of Justice, this program and all housing
programs must be developed and administered to comply with this
foundational civil rights law.
States and other eligible recipients will also be vital partners in
getting relief out quickly. Too many homeowners have been struggling
for nearly a year. We need to get them relief now. Following the 2008
economic crisis, State housing finance agencies in select States were
great partners in providing direct relief to homeowners through the
Hardest Hit Fund. In my home State of Ohio, the Ohio Housing Finance
Agency helped tens of thousands of people with mortgage payment
assistance, modifications with assistance, and more. We need all States
to be prepared to get these funds out quickly and without unnecessary
barriers. Treasury can help facilitate this with clear guidance and
templates that allow States to put out funds without delay.
I will continue to fight for the assistance people experiencing
homelessness, renters, and homeowners need to stay in their homes. I
also look forward to working to successfully deploy the historic
resources provided in this bill.
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