HELP Act of 2023

The HELP Act of 2023 requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development to create a national database collecting detailed eviction data from federally assisted housing, including demographic information and reasons for eviction. It allocates $10 billion for legal aid to help tenants facing eviction in covered housing, covering court fees and attorney costs for tenants (but not landlords). The bill also changes credit reporting rules to prevent eviction records from appearing on consumer credit reports and mandates annual written notices to tenants about their eviction rights and local resources. This directly affects renters in federally assisted housing - covering public housing, Section 8, and other HUD-assisted units - which includes approximately 26 million households. The policy aims to address racial disparities in evictions, where Black renters face eviction at twice the rate of White renters.