[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5816 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5816
To establish an Office of Eviction Prevention in the Department of
Housing and Urban Development and to authorize funding for the Eviction
Protection Grant Program of such Department, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 28, 2023
Mr. Schiff (for himself, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. Mullin, Ms. Chu, Mr.
Gomez, Ms. Norton, and Ms. Tlaib) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish an Office of Eviction Prevention in the Department of
Housing and Urban Development and to authorize funding for the Eviction
Protection Grant Program of such Department, 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 ``Eviction Protection Act of 2023''.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF EVICTION PREVENTION.
(a) In General.--Section 4 of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development Act (42 U.S.C. 3533) is amended by adding at the end the
following new subsection:
``(i) Office of Eviction Prevention.--
``(1) Establishment.--There is established in the
Department, in the Office of the Secretary, the Office of
Eviction Prevention.
``(2) Director.--There is established the position of
Director of the Office of Eviction Prevention. The Director
shall be the head of the Office of Eviction Prevention and
shall be appointed by, and shall report to, the Secretary. Such
position shall be a career-reserved position in the Senior
Executive Service.
``(3) Mission.--The mission of the Office of Eviction
Prevention shall be to prevent evictions from rental housing
and to protect tenants of such housing from the harm of
evictions and eviction filings.
``(4) Functions.--The Director shall have primary
responsibility within the Department for all activities and
matters relating to eviction prevention, including the
following:
``(A) Administering the Eviction Protection Grant
Program of the Department, including--
``(i) conducting a robust evaluation of
grantees under the program and the activities
undertaken under the program by grantees, and
assessing whether such activities improved
outcomes for tenants served by a grant, taking
into consideration the differing tenant
protections in States and localities;
``(ii) identifying, and reporting to the
Congress on, best practices and activities for
eviction protection, including identifying
resources and funding needed to continue and
replicate best practices and activities; and
``(iii) providing technical assistance and
support to grantees under the program to
provide them with training, expertise, best
practices, and problem-solving strategies.
``(B) Analyzing and reporting on information
gathered through the Eviction Protection Grant Program
and other programs administered by the Office.
``(C) Coordinating with the Office of Policy
Development and Research of the Department in
establishing a database on evictions, which shall be
administered by such Office and shall include such
measures as may be necessary to protect against the
release of personally identifiable information
regarding tenants, analyzing information collected by
such database, and reporting to the Congress regarding
such analyses.
``(D) Coordinating strategies to prevent evictions
and early lease terminations in housing programs
administered by the Department, including through--
``(i) training offices and personnel of the
Department on eviction prevention policies and
programs and tenants rights; and
``(ii) coordinating with other offices of
the Department, including the Office of Fair
Housing and Equal Opportunity and the Office of
Gender-Based Violence.
``(E) Collaborating with other Federal agencies,
including the Office of Access to Justice of the
Department of Justice, the Bureau of Consumer Financial
Protection, the Department of Agriculture, the
Department of the Treasury, the Department of Veterans
Affairs, and the Department of Defense, to develop best
practices for eviction prevention strategies within
Federal programs and the private rental market.
``(F) Identifying strategies to prevent and reduce
evictions across the United States, including--
``(i) collaborating with Federal agencies
whose activities impact tenants in federally
subsidized housing and housing in the private
rental market, including the Federal Housing
Finance Agency, the Bureau of Consumer
Financial Protection, the Department of
Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the
Department of Health and Human Services, the
Department of Transportation, the United States
Domestic Policy Council, and the National
Economic Council;
``(ii) establishing a working group on
eviction prevention to study and develop
solutions to the national eviction crisis,
which working group shall include
representatives of agencies referred to in
clause (i), tenant representatives,
representatives of legal services providers,
and grantees under the Eviction Protection
Grant Program;
``(iii) providing technical assistance to
housing providers, State and local governments,
and other agencies on issues related to
evictions and tenant protections; and
``(iv) coordinating with State and local
governments and agencies, including State
housing finance agencies, on such issues.
``(G) Conducting outreach to and engagement with
tenants to--
``(i) provide education and information
about tenant protections and available eviction
prevention programs, including by developing
resources and materials for tenants;
``(ii) collect complaints and feedback from
tenants and community members on evictions and
eviction-prevention programs; and
``(iii) refer complaints regarding
evictions to appropriate Federal, State, and
local agencies or organizations, including
legal and other advocacy organizations,
appropriate to address housing-related issues.
``(5) Covered evictions.--For purposes of this subsection
the term `eviction' includes the variety of processes and means
by which landlords remove tenants from rental properties,
including--
``(A) court-ordered evictions, including eviction
filings, court-ordered eviction rulings, and any
eviction actions that take place through the judicial
system;
``(B) extra-legal evictions that do not involve the
judicial system, commonly known as illegal, unlawful,
informal, or self-help evictions, including threatening
tenants, changing the locks on rental units, shutting
off the utilities to such units, and paying tenants to
surrender occupancy of a unit;
``(C) administrative actions by public housing
agencies to evict residents of public housing; and
``(D) early lease terminations by housing providers
receiving assistance from the Department of Housing and
Urban Development.''.
(b) Transfer.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall
provide for the transfer of the administration of the Eviction
Protection Grant Program of the Department, which as of the date of the
enactment of this Act is the responsibility of the Office of Policy
Development and Research, to the Director of the Office of Eviction
Prevention established under section 4(i) of the Department of Housing
and Urban Development Act, as added by the amendment made by subsection
(a) of this section.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is authorized to be appropriated--
(1) $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028
for grants under the Eviction Protection Grant Program of the
Department of Housing and Urban Development; and
(2) $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028
for costs of personnel for and activities of the Office of
Eviction Prevention.
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