H.R.5884

            I 

116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION H. R. 5884 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2020 
Mr. CLYBURN (for himself, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Ms. CLARKE of New 

York, Mr. KHANNA, and Mrs. HAYES) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

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 Representa-1

tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Legal Assistance to 4

Prevent Evictions Act of 2020’’. 5

SEC. 2. EVICTIONS ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM. 6

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 7

Urban Development shall establish a competitive grant 8

program to provide grants to eligible recipients to provide 9

VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:28 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5884.IH H5884lo
tte

r 
on

 D
S

K
B

C
F

D
H

B
2P

R
O

D
 w

ith
 B

IL
LS



2 

•HR 5884 IH

legal assistance (including assistance related to pretrial 1

activities, trial activities, post-trial activities, and alter-2

native dispute resolution) at no cost to eligible tenants at 3

risk of or subject to eviction. 4

(b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 5

under this section, an applicant shall submit an applica-6

tion to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 7

containing such information as the Secretary may reason-8

ably require, including evidence of the experience of the 9

applicant providing legal assistance in residential eviction 10

matters. 11

(c) POINT SYSTEM FOR PREFERENCE FACTORS.—In 12

awarding grants under this section, the Secretary shall— 13

(1) establish a system that awards points to ap-14

plicants in accordance with the preference factors 15

described in subsection (d); and 16

(2) give priority to applicants with the greatest 17

number of points under the system. 18

(d) PREFERENCE FACTORS.—The preference factors 19

for which an applicant shall be awarded points under the 20

system established pursuant to subsection (c)(1) are as 21

follows: 22

(1) EVICTION RATE PREFERENCE.—If the ap-23

plicant will use grant funds awarded under this sec-24

tion to provide services in census tracts with high 25

VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:28 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5884.IH H5884lo
tte

r 
on

 D
S

K
B

C
F

D
H

B
2P

R
O

D
 w

ith
 B

IL
LS



3 

•HR 5884 IH

rates of eviction. In making such determinations, the 1

Secretary shall use data determined by the Secretary 2

to be the best available, or if no appropriate data is 3

available, shall make reasonable inferences to deter-4

mine the rate of eviction in a census tract. The Sec-5

retary may not require applicants to provide data on 6

the rates of eviction in the census tract in which the 7

applicant intends to provide services or award more 8

points to applicants who provide such data than to 9

applicants who do not. 10

(2) CAPACITY PREFERENCE.—If the Secretary 11

determines that the applicant has a greater capacity 12

to produce more favorable outcomes regarding evic-13

tion for eligible tenants. In making such determina-14

tions, the Secretary may consider the applicant’s— 15

(A) past experience in producing favorable 16

outcomes for households facing eviction; 17

(B) proposed use of grant funds to in-18

crease staff resources to provide legal assist-19

ance; 20

(C) demonstrated past effective use of re-21

sources to provide legal assistance; 22

(D) ability to provide services to eligible 23

tenants with limited English proficiency; and 24

VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:28 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5884.IH H5884lo
tte

r 
on

 D
S

K
B

C
F

D
H

B
2P

R
O

D
 w

ith
 B

IL
LS



4 

•HR 5884 IH

(E) ability to effectively communicate with 1

eligible tenants with disabilities. 2

(3) PREFERENCE FOR GOVERNMENT ENTITIES 3

THAT PROMOTE TENANT RIGHTS.—With respect to 4

any applicant that is a governmental entity, if the 5

applicant has in effect laws or regulations that pro-6

mote tenant rights. In making such determinations, 7

the Secretary— 8

(A) shall consider laws or regulations es-9

tablishing a tenant’s right to— 10

(i) counsel in evictions cases; 11

(ii) withhold rent if a landlord fails to 12

provide essential services to ensure habit-13

ability of the premises; 14

(iii) deduct appliance repair costs 15

from rent owed; 16

(iv) notice of failure to pay rent or 17

other lease violation with the right to cure; 18

(v) a maximum security deposit equal 19

to one month’s rent; and 20

(vi) the expeditious return of any se-21

curity deposit after terminating a lease; 22

and 23

(B) may consider, with lesser weight given 24

than the weight given to those rights described 25

VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:28 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5884.IH H5884lo
tte

r 
on

 D
S

K
B

C
F

D
H

B
2P

R
O

D
 w

ith
 B

IL
LS



5 

•HR 5884 IH

in subsection (A), laws or regulations estab-1

lishing a tenant’s right to— 2

(i) advance notice of rent increases; 3

(ii) advance notice of landlord entry to 4

the property; or 5

(iii) adequate time to recover aban-6

doned property after eviction. 7

Points awarded under this paragraph shall not re-8

sult in an applicant governmental entity being 9

awarded a grant that, in the absence of this para-10

graph, would have been awarded to either an appli-11

cant nonprofit entity or an applicant governmental 12

entity lacking the legal authority to enact laws or 13

regulations described in this paragraph because such 14

entity is subject to legal restrictions enacted by an-15

other governmental entity. 16

(e) RURAL EQUITY.—In awarding grants under this 17

section, the Secretary— 18

(1) shall, to the extent practicable, ensure that 19

the proportion of eligible tenants living in rural 20

areas who will receive legal assistance with grant 21

funds awarded under this section is not less than the 22

overall proportion of eligible tenants who live in 23

rural areas; and 24

VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:28 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5884.IH H5884lo
tte

r 
on

 D
S

K
B

C
F

D
H

B
2P

R
O

D
 w

ith
 B

IL
LS



6 

•HR 5884 IH

(2) may consider geographic diversity and an 1

applicant’s capacity to serve eligible tenants living in 2

rural areas. 3

(f) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Grant funds re-4

ceived under this Act shall be used to supplement and not 5

supplant other funds used by the grantee to provide the 6

legal assistance described in subsection (a). 7

(g) REPORT.—For each year that an eligible recipient 8

receives grant funds under this section, such eligible re-9

cipient shall submit to the Secretary a report which main-10

tains attorney-client confidentiality and which excludes 11

personally identifiable information about eligible tenants. 12

Such report shall contain— 13

(1) the total number of eligible tenants that 14

were provided legal assistance using such funds; 15

(2) the estimated number of evictions avoided, 16

delayed, or resolved with other outcomes (such as 17

negotiated settlements) that are more favorable to 18

the eligible tenant than the outcomes that would 19

have been expected in the absence of counsel, and a 20

brief description of the circumstances of each case; 21

(3) the number of eligible tenants that received 22

legal assistance that reside in a dwelling unit for 23

which any subsidy or assistance for occupancy in the 24

VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:28 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5884.IH H5884lo
tte

r 
on

 D
S

K
B

C
F

D
H

B
2P

R
O

D
 w

ith
 B

IL
LS



7 

•HR 5884 IH

dwelling unit is provided under a program adminis-1

tered by Federal, State, or local authorities; and 2

(4) demographic information about eligible ten-3

ants that received legal assistance, including race, 4

national origin, sex, disability status, household in-5

come, household size, household familial status, age 6

of the head of household, and whether tenants live 7

in an urban area, suburban area, or rural area. 8

(h) DEFINITIONS.— 9

(1) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT.—The term ‘‘eligible 10

recipient’’ means any nonprofit or governmental en-11

tity that has experience providing no-cost legal as-12

sistance to low-income individuals. 13

(2) ELIGIBLE TENANT.—The term ‘‘eligible 14

tenant’’ means an individual who has an annual 15

household income of— 16

(A) not more than 135 percent of the Fed-17

eral poverty guidelines issued by the Secretary 18

of Health and Human Services; or 19

(B) less than 333 percent of average fair 20

market rent in the county of the individual— 21

(i) in the case of a household com-22

prised of one individual, for an efficiency; 23

and 24

VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:28 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5884.IH H5884lo
tte

r 
on

 D
S

K
B

C
F

D
H

B
2P

R
O

D
 w

ith
 B

IL
LS



8 

•HR 5884 IH

(ii) in the case of a household com-1

prised of more than one individual, for a 2

residence in which the number of bedrooms 3

would not require— 4

(I) more than two members of 5

the household to share a bedroom; 6

(II) children of different genders 7

to share a bedroom with one another; 8

or 9

(III) a household member with a 10

disability requiring medical equipment 11

to share a bedroom. 12

(3) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ 13

means a census tract that is— 14

(A) outside of a metropolitan statistical 15

area, as designated by the Office of Manage-16

ment and Budget; or 17

(B) within a metropolitan statistical area, 18

as designated by the Office of Management and 19

Budget, that is outside of the metropolitan sta-20

tistical area’s urbanized areas as designated by 21

the rural-urban commuting area code 1 (as de-22

termined by the Secretary of Agriculture), and 23

outside of tracts with a housing density of over 24

64 housing units per square mile located in the 25

VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:28 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5884.IH H5884lo
tte

r 
on

 D
S

K
B

C
F

D
H

B
2P

R
O

D
 w

ith
 B

IL
LS



9 

•HR 5884 IH

rural-urban commuting area code 2 (as deter-1

mined by the Secretary of Agriculture). 2

(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 3

the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 4

(5) SUBURBAN AREA.—The term ‘‘suburban 5

area’’ means a census tract with a population den-6

sity of less than 2,500 inhabitants per square mile 7

that is not a rural area. 8

(6) URBAN AREA.—The term ‘‘urban area’’ 9

means a census tract with a population density of at 10

least 2,500 inhabitants per square mile. 11

Æ 

VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:28 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5884.IH H5884lo
tte

r 
on

 D
S

K
B

C
F

D
H

B
2P

R
O

D
 w

ith
 B

IL
LS


<<
  /ASCII85EncodePages false
  /AllowTransparency false
  /AutoPositionEPSFiles true
  /AutoRotatePages /None
  /Binding /Left
  /CalGrayProfile (Dot Gain 20%)
  /CalRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1)
  /CalCMYKProfile (U.S. Web Coated \050SWOP\051 v2)
  /sRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1)
  /CannotEmbedFontPolicy /Error
  /CompatibilityLevel 1.4
  /CompressObjects /Off
  /CompressPages true
  /ConvertImagesToIndexed true
  /PassThroughJPEGImages true
  /CreateJobTicket false
  /DefaultRenderingIntent /Default
  /DetectBlends true
  /DetectCurves 0.0000
  /ColorConversionStrategy /LeaveColorUnchanged
  /DoThumbnails false
  /EmbedAllFonts true
  /EmbedOpenType false
  /ParseICCProfilesInComments true
  /EmbedJobOptions true
  /DSCReportingLevel 0
  /EmitDSCWarnings false
  /EndPage -1
  /ImageMemory 1048576
  /LockDistillerParams true
  /MaxSubsetPct 100
  /Optimize false
  /OPM 1
  /ParseDSCComments true
  /ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo true
  /PreserveCopyPage true
  /PreserveDICMYKValues true
  /PreserveEPSInfo true
  /PreserveFlatness true
  /PreserveHalftoneInfo false
  /PreserveOPIComments true
  /PreserveOverprintSettings true
  /StartPage 1
  /SubsetFonts false
  /TransferFunctionInfo /Preserve
  /UCRandBGInfo /Preserve
  /UsePrologue true
  /ColorSettingsFile ()
  /AlwaysEmbed [ true
  ]
  /NeverEmbed [ true
  ]
  /AntiAliasColorImages false
  /CropColorImages true
  /ColorImageMinResolution 300
  /ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
  /DownsampleColorImages false
  /ColorImageDownsampleType /Bicubic
  /ColorImageResolution 300
  /ColorImageDepth 8
  /ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth 1
  /ColorImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000
  /EncodeColorImages true
  /ColorImageFilter /FlateEncode
  /AutoFilterColorImages false
  /ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG
  /ColorACSImageDict <<
    /QFactor 0.15
    /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
  >>
  /ColorImageDict <<
    /QFactor 0.15
    /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
  >>
  /JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict <<
    /TileWidth 256
    /TileHeight 256
    /Quality 30
  >>
  /JPEG2000ColorImageDict <<
    /TileWidth 256
    /TileHeight 256
    /Quality 30
  >>
  /AntiAliasGrayImages false
  /CropGrayImages true
  /GrayImageMinResolution 300
  /GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
  /DownsampleGrayImages false
  /GrayImageDownsampleType /Bicubic
  /GrayImageResolution 300
  /GrayImageDepth 8
  /GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 2
  /GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000
  /EncodeGrayImages true
  /GrayImageFilter /FlateEncode
  /AutoFilterGrayImages false
  /GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG
  /GrayACSImageDict <<
    /QFactor 0.15
    /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
  >>
  /GrayImageDict <<
    /QFactor 0.15
    /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
  >>
  /JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict <<
    /TileWidth 256
    /TileHeight 256
    /Quality 30
  >>
  /JPEG2000GrayImageDict <<
    /TileWidth 256
    /TileHeight 256
    /Quality 30
  >>
  /AntiAliasMonoImages false
  /CropMonoImages true
  /MonoImageMinResolution 1200
  /MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
  /DownsampleMonoImages false
  /MonoImageDownsampleType /Bicubic
  /MonoImageResolution 1200
  /MonoImageDepth -1
  /MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000
  /EncodeMonoImages true
  /MonoImageFilter /CCITTFaxEncode
  /MonoImageDict <<
    /K -1
  >>
  /AllowPSXObjects false
  /CheckCompliance [
    /None
  ]
  /PDFX1aCheck true
  /PDFX3Check false
  /PDFXCompliantPDFOnly true
  /PDFXNoTrimBoxError false
  /PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset [
    0.00000
    0.00000
    0.00000
    0.00000
  ]
  /PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox true
  /PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset [
    0.00000
    0.00000
    0.00000
    0.00000
  ]
  /PDFXOutputIntentProfile (U.S. Web Coated \050SWOP\051 v2)
  /PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier (CGATS TR 001)
  /PDFXOutputCondition ()
  /PDFXRegistryName (http://www.color.org)
  /PDFXTrapped /False

  /CreateJDFFile false
  /Description <<
    /ARA 
    /BGR 
    /CHS 
    /CHT 
    /CZE 
    /DAN 
    /DEU 
    /ESP 
    /ETI 
    /FRA 
    /GRE 
    /HEB 
    /HRV 
    /HUN 
    /ITA (Utilizzare queste impostazioni per creare documenti Adobe PDF che devono essere conformi o verificati in base a PDF/X-1a:2001, uno standard ISO per lo scambio di contenuto grafico. Per ulteriori informazioni sulla creazione di documenti PDF compatibili con PDF/X-1a, consultare la Guida dell'utente di Acrobat. I documenti PDF creati possono essere aperti con Acrobat e Adobe Reader 4.0 e versioni successive.)
    /JPN 
    /KOR 
    /LTH 
    /LVI 
    /NLD (Gebruik deze instellingen om Adobe PDF-documenten te maken die moeten worden gecontroleerd of moeten voldoen aan PDF/X-1a:2001, een ISO-standaard voor het uitwisselen van grafische gegevens. Raadpleeg de gebruikershandleiding van Acrobat voor meer informatie over het maken van PDF-documenten die compatibel zijn met PDF/X-1a. De gemaakte PDF-documenten kunnen worden geopend met Acrobat en Adobe Reader 4.0 en hoger.)
    /NOR 
    /POL 
    /PTB 
    /RUM 
    /RUS 
    /SKY 
    /SLV 
    /SUO 
    /SVE 
    /TUR 
    /UKR 
    /ENU (Use these settings to create Adobe PDF documents that are to be checked or must conform to PDF/X-1a:2001, an ISO standard for graphic content exchange.  For more information on creating PDF/X-1a compliant PDF documents, please refer to the Acrobat User Guide.  Created PDF documents can be opened with Acrobat and Adobe Reader 4.0 and later.)
  >>
  /Namespace [
    (Adobe)
    (Common)
    (1.0)
  ]
  /OtherNamespaces [
    <<
      /AsReaderSpreads false
      /CropImagesToFrames true
      /ErrorControl /WarnAndContinue
      /FlattenerIgnoreSpreadOverrides false
      /IncludeGuidesGrids false
      /IncludeNonPrinting false
      /IncludeSlug false
      /Namespace [
        (Adobe)
        (InDesign)
        (4.0)
      ]
      /OmitPlacedBitmaps false
      /OmitPlacedEPS false
      /OmitPlacedPDF false
      /SimulateOverprint /Legacy
    >>
    <<
      /AddBleedMarks false
      /AddColorBars false
      /AddCropMarks false
      /AddPageInfo false
      /AddRegMarks false
      /ConvertColors /ConvertToCMYK
      /DestinationProfileName ()
      /DestinationProfileSelector /DocumentCMYK
      /Downsample16BitImages true
      /FlattenerPreset <<
        /PresetSelector /HighResolution
      >>
      /FormElements false
      /GenerateStructure false
      /IncludeBookmarks false
      /IncludeHyperlinks false
      /IncludeInteractive false
      /IncludeLayers false
      /IncludeProfiles false
      /MultimediaHandling /UseObjectSettings
      /Namespace [
        (Adobe)
        (CreativeSuite)
        (2.0)
      ]
      /PDFXOutputIntentProfileSelector /DocumentCMYK
      /PreserveEditing true
      /UntaggedCMYKHandling /LeaveUntagged
      /UntaggedRGBHandling /UseDocumentProfile
      /UseDocumentBleed false
    >>
  ]
>> setdistillerparams
<<
  /HWResolution [2400 2400]
  /PageSize [612.000 792.000]
>> setpagedevice



		Superintendent of Documents
	2020-02-21T00:30:44-0500
	US GPO, Washington, DC 20401
	Superintendent of Documents
	GPO attests that this document has not been altered since it was disseminated by GPO