The Youth Homelessness Guaranteed Income Pilot Program

(a) In general The Secretary shall establish a program, entitled the Youth Homelessness Guaranteed Income Pilot Program, to provide housing assistance to certain eligible individuals in accordance with this section. (b) Preparation Within 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act: (1) Database of homeless individuals (A) Creation of database The Secretary shall create a database of individuals who are homeless while living in the United States containing the information described in section 6(b)(1). (B) Eligible participants Based on the recommendations issued by the Council under section 6(b)(1), the Secretary— (i) shall make reasonable efforts using reliable sources to identify homeless individuals for inclusion in the database; and (ii) may communicate recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Education, or the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development with respect to the prescription of regulations described in subparagraph (C). (C) Authority to prescribe regulations The Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Education, and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development may each prescribe regulations requiring a recipient of funds or other assistance under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11301–11435)— (i) to make reasonable efforts to identify homeless individuals who receive benefits or assistance provided through the funds; and (ii) to submit sufficient information to the Secretary for the homeless individuals to be listed in the database. (D) Requirements for database information The Secretary— (i) shall verify the accuracy of the information in the database; (ii) shall include in the database, with respect to each individual listed in the database, only the information necessary to— (I) determine the eligibility of the individual to participate in the pilot program; or (II) administer the pilot program with the individual as a participant; and (iii) may not include in the database any information about the citizenship status, immigration status, or Social Security number of any individual listed in the database. (E) Report to Congress on the database The Secretary shall submit a written report to the appropriate congressional committees describing the process used to create the database. (2) Selection of pilot program participants (A) Criteria The Secretary, in coordination with the External Partner and the Council, shall develop criteria for the selection of pilot program participants that are— (i) consistent with the objectives of the study described in section 5; (ii) inclusive of low-income geographic areas; and (iii) representative of the demographics of the population of homeless individuals in the United States who have not attained 30 years of age. (B) Selection The Secretary shall select, consistent with the criteria developed under subparagraph (A), not more than 105,000 individuals listed in the database to participate in the pilot program, each of whom shall be— (i) an emancipated minor; or (ii) an individual who has attained 18 years of age but not 30 years of age. (C) Impermissible factors The Secretary may not use citizenship or immigration status as factors in the selection of pilot program participants. (3) Conditions for participation in the pilot program An individual may not participate in the pilot program until the individual, in a form and manner determined by the Secretary— (A) consents to the disclosure of Federal and State income tax return information of the individual to the Secretary and the External Partner; and (B) discloses other personal information determined by the Secretary to be necessary for the administration of the pilot program and the study described in section 5, including the ZIP Code of the primary place of residence maintained by the individual. (c) Provision of assistance (1) Duration The Secretary shall provide the assistance described in this subsection to the pilot program participants for 36 consecutive months. (2) Assistance available to all participants Based on the recommendations issued by the Council under section 6(b)(2), and in consultation with the External Partner, the Secretary shall, directly or by contract or cooperative agreement, provide to each participant, appropriate to the circumstances of the participant, the following: (A) Housing navigation services. (B) Financial coaching courses. (C) Workforce development services. (D) Educational attainment services. (E) Education on the landlord-tenant laws of the jurisdiction of residence of the participant and the rights that the participant would have as a tenant. (F) Additional services recommended by the Council and the External Partner, at the discretion of the Secretary. (G) Assistance in identifying, applying for, and using any service or assistance available to the participant that is funded under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11301–11435). (3) Cash payments to the payment-receiving group (A) Division into 2 groups The Secretary shall— (i) divide the participants randomly into 2 groups, approximately equal in size and equally representative with respect to the criteria for the selection of participants; and (ii) designate 1 group to receive cash payments pursuant to this paragraph. (B) Frequency; amount (i) In general The Secretary shall make a payment to each member of the payment-receiving group every month for the duration described in paragraph (1), with each monthly payment in the amount equal to or the greater of $1,400 or the adjusted fair market rent cost for the member involved. (ii) Adjusted fair market rent cost The Secretary shall determine the adjusted fair market rent cost for such a member based on the fair market rent cost for a 2-bedroom home in the ZIP Code designated by the member and any modifications recommended by the Council under section 6(b)(4). (iii) Lump sum payment permitted for the 1st year Notwithstanding clause (i), not more than half of the members of the payment-receiving group may elect to receive not more than the first 12 monthly payments under clause (i) in a single lump sum payment. (C) Forms of payment The Secretary shall make each program payment by whichever of the following methods is elected by the participant involved: (i) Cash. (ii) Electronic funds transfer. (iii) Prepaid debit card. (iv) Any other method offered by the Secretary. (D) Day of payment Each member of the payment-receiving group may elect to receive the monthly payment on the first or last weekday of the month that is not a legal public holiday. (d) Privacy protections (1) Disclosures prohibited A person shall not disclose any information related to the pilot program, except to the extent permitted by regulations prescribed under paragraph (2). (2) Regulations for sharing information The Secretary, in consultation with the Council and External Partner, may prescribe regulations to provide for the sharing of information in the database, without personal identifiers, with nonprofit organizations and academic institutions for noncommercial research purposes. (3) Destruction of database The Secretary shall destroy the database within 30 days after the Council terminates. (4) Violations (A) Any person who, by virtue of an official position or affiliation with the Secretary, the Council, or the External Partner— (i) has possession of, or access to, any record containing individually identifiable information the disclosure of which is prohibited by or under this Act; and (ii) knowingly discloses such a record to any person or agency not entitled to receive the record, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not more than $25,000. (B) Any person who knowingly requests or obtains any record related to the pilot program from the Secretary, the Council, or the External Partner under false pretenses shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not more than $25,000. (e) Relationship to other programs, benefits, and laws Notwithstanding any other provision of law: (1) Participation in the pilot program, including the receipt of program payments, may not be considered for the purposes of determining— (A) the eligibility of a participant for, or the amount or timing of, any benefit or assistance under any Federal program or under any State or local program financed, in whole or in part, with Federal funds; or (B) whether a participant is a public charge under section 212(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(4)) or section 237(a)(5) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(5)). (2) For purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, gross income shall not include any program payment to a participant. (3) Section 401 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1611) shall not apply to this Act.