II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 310
To establish a grant program to address the crises in accessing affordable
housing and child care through the co-location of housing and child
care, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY29, 2025
Mr. W
YDEN(for himself, Mr. MERKLEY, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. PADILLA, Ms.
H
IRONO, Ms. ROSEN, and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Hous-
ing, and Urban Affairs
A BILL
To establish a grant program to address the crises in access-
ing affordable housing and child care through the co-
location of housing and child care, and for other pur-
poses.
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 ‘‘Build Housing with 4
Care Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 1
The purpose of this Act is to expand access to afford-2
able housing and child care through the establishment of 3
a grant program to promote the co-location of housing and 4
child care providers. 5
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -8
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-9
mittees’’ means— 10
(A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 11
and Urban Affairs of the Senate; 12
(B) the Committee on Health, Education, 13
Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; 14
(C) the Committee on Financial Services of 15
the House of Representatives; and 16
(D) the Committee on Education and the 17
Workforce of the House of Representatives. 18
(2) C
AREGIVER; ELIGIBLE CHILD CARE PRO -19
VIDER.—The terms ‘‘caregiver’’ and ‘‘eligible child 20
care provider’’ have the meanings given those terms 21
in section 658P of the Child Care and Development 22
Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858n). 23
(3) C
HILD CARE DESERT .—The term ‘‘child 24
care desert’’ means— 25
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(A) a census tract that contains not less 1
than 3 times more children than the licensed 2
child care providers in the census tract have the 3
capacity to care for; or 4
(B) a census tract where there are no li-5
censed child care providers. 6
(4) C
O-LOCATION FACILITY.—The term ‘‘co-lo-7
cation facility’’ means a housing facility that con-8
tains an eligible child care provider within the facil-9
ity, on the premises of the facility, or nearby the fa-10
cility, where such provider serves the residents of the 11
housing facility. 12
(5) C
OMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL IN -13
STITUTION.—The term ‘‘community development fi-14
nancial institution’’ has the meaning given the term 15
in section 103 of the Community Development 16
Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994 (12 17
U.S.C. 4702). 18
(6) C
OMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORA -19
TION.—The term ‘‘community development corpora-20
tion’’ has the same meaning as when used in the 21
Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act 22
(42 U.S.C. 12701 et seq.). 23
(7) C
OMMUNITY HOUSING DEVELOPMENT OR -24
GANIZATION.—The term ‘‘community housing devel-25
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opment organization’’ has the meaning given the 1
term in section 104 of the Cranston-Gonzalez Na-2
tional Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12704). 3
(8) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-4
ty’’ means— 5
(A) a community development financial in-6
stitution; 7
(B) an eligible child care provider; 8
(C) a public housing authority; 9
(D) a government entity, including a public 10
housing agency; 11
(E) an Indian Tribe or a Tribal organiza-12
tion; 13
(F) a community development corporation; 14
(G) a housing developer using— 15
(i) low-income housing tax credits 16
under section 42 of the Internal Revenue 17
Code of 1986; or 18
(ii) new markets tax credits under 19
section 45D of the Internal Revenue Code 20
of 1986; 21
(H) a nonprofit organization that develops 22
housing; 23
(I) a community housing development or-24
ganization; 25
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(J) a consortia of 2 or more entities de-1
scribed in this paragraph; or 2
(K) another entity identified as appro-3
priate by the Secretary. 4
(9) I
NDIAN TRIBE; TRIBAL ORGANIZATION .— 5
The terms ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ and ‘‘Tribal organiza-6
tion’’— 7
(A) have the meanings given those terms 8
in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 9
and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 10
5304); and 11
(B) include— 12
(i) tribally designated housing entities; 13
and 14
(ii) entities that serve Native Hawai-15
ians, as defined in section 338K(c) of the 16
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 17
254s(c)). 18
(10) L
OW-INCOME FAMILY; PUBLIC HOUSING 19
AGENCY; VERY LOW-INCOME FAMILY.—The terms 20
‘‘low-income family’’, ‘‘public housing agency’’, and 21
‘‘very low-income family’’ have the meanings given 22
those terms in section 3(b) of the United States 23
Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 24
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(11) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means 1
the program established under section 4(b). 2
(12) P
UBLIC HOUSING DWELLING UNIT .—The 3
term ‘‘public housing dwelling unit’’ means a dwell-4
ing unit in public housing, as defined in section 3(b) 5
of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 6
U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 7
(13) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 8
means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop-9
ment. 10
(14) T
RIBALLY DESIGNATED HOUSING ENTI -11
TY.—The term ‘‘tribally designated housing entity’’ 12
has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 13
Native American Housing Assistance and Self-De-14
termination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4103). 15
SEC. 4. HOUSING AND CHILD CARE PROVIDER CO-LOCA-16
TION GRANT PROGRAM. 17
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 18
a program to award grants, on a competitive basis, to eli-19
gible entities to facilitate the design, planning, construc-20
tion, conversion, retrofitting, preservation, or renovation 21
of a co-location facility. 22
(b) C
ONSULTATION.—In developing the Program, the 23
Secretary shall consult with— 24
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(1) the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-1
ices, acting through the Assistant Secretary of the 2
Administration for Children and Families; 3
(2) the Secretary of the Treasury, acting 4
through the Director of the Community Develop-5
ment Financial Institutions Fund; and 6
(3) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through 7
the Under Secretary for Rural Development. 8
(c) A
PPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 9
under the Program, an eligible entity shall submit to the 10
Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, 11
and containing such information as the Secretary deter-12
mines appropriate, including the following: 13
(1) A certification that the eligible child care 14
provider associated with the application is eligible to 15
receive vouchers or assistance under the Child Care 16
and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 17
U.S.C. 9857 et seq.), or in the case of an application 18
to construct a new facility, or an application when 19
the eligible entity intends to subgrant or capitalize 20
amounts provided, a commitment to— 21
(A) establish a partnership with an eligible 22
child care provider not later than 1 year after 23
the date on which funding is received; 24
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(B) submit to the Secretary a certification 1
of the eligibility of the provider to receive 2
vouchers or assistance under the Child Care 3
and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 4
U.S.C. 9857 et seq.); and 5
(C) in the case of an application to con-6
struct a new facility, or an application when the 7
eligible entity intends to subgrant or capitalize 8
amounts provided— 9
(i) clearly establish a project pipeline; 10
and 11
(ii) certify that a child care provider 12
associated with a co-location facility 13
project receives vouchers or assistance 14
under the Child Care and Development 15
Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9857 16
et seq.) or the Head Start Act of 1965 (42 17
U.S.C. 9831 et seq.). 18
(2) A certification that activities funded by 19
grant amounts will not result in the eviction of resi-20
dents of the housing facility associated with the ap-21
plication. 22
(3) A description of a plan to inform and en-23
gage with residents of the housing facility associated 24
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with the application about the proposed use of grant 1
amounts. 2
(4) A certification of compliance with required 3
Federal, State, and local environmental laws and 4
State and local land use policies, unless the eligible 5
entity— 6
(A) intends to use grant amounts to facili-7
tate the planning or design required for permit 8
approval; or 9
(B) demonstrates that the construction, 10
preservation, conversion, retrofitting, or renova-11
tion of an existing facility does not require envi-12
ronmental review. 13
(5) A business plan for the eligible child care 14
provider associated with the application, submitted 15
at the time of application or not later than 1 year 16
after the date on which the application is submitted, 17
including— 18
(A) a budget or, in the case of a new eligi-19
ble child care provider, a proposed budget; 20
(B) appropriate State and local licensing 21
or, in the case of a new eligible child care pro-22
vider, a copy of the application of the provider 23
for appropriate State and local licensing; and 24
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(C) copies of contracts between the pro-1
vider and a local, county, regional, State, or 2
Federal governmental entity, to facilitate— 3
(i) the business operations of the pro-4
vider; or 5
(ii) the enrollment of children from 6
low-income families with the provider. 7
(d) A
WARDING OFGRANTS.— 8
(1) P
RIORITY.—In awarding grants under the 9
Program, the Secretary shall give priority to each el-10
igible entity that demonstrates that the eligible child 11
care provider associated with the application of the 12
entity will— 13
(A) operate in a child care desert, a low- 14
income community, or a rural area as deter-15
mined by the Secretary; 16
(B) certify designation as a Head Start 17
provider, an Early Head Start Provider, a Mi-18
grant and Seasonal Head Start Provider, or an 19
American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start 20
Provider, or enroll at least 10 percent of chil-21
dren from very low-income families; or 22
(C) demonstrate a partnership with a com-23
munity development financial institution, in-24
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cluding through the provision of financial or 1
technical assistance. 2
(2) G
RANT AMOUNTS.—An eligible entity may 3
be awarded not more than $10,000,000 under the 4
Program. 5
(e) U
SE OFAMOUNTS.— 6
(1) E
LIGIBLE USES.—An eligible entity may 7
only use grant amounts provided under the Program 8
to facilitate the design, planning, construction, ac-9
quisition, preservation, conversion, retrofitting, long- 10
term leasing, or renovation of a new or existing co- 11
location facility. 12
(2) D
ISTRIBUTION.—An eligible entity receiving 13
a grant under the Program may distribute grant 14
amounts to a government entity, a nonprofit organi-15
zation that develops housing, a public housing agen-16
cy, a tribally designated housing entity, or other ap-17
propriate entity as determined by the Secretary, to 18
carry out activities in accordance with this section. 19
(3) F
INANCE PRODUCTS.—A community devel-20
opment financial institution receiving a grant under 21
the Program may capitalize amounts received to cre-22
ate financial products, including loans, to carry out 23
activities in accordance with this section. 24
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(4) PRE-DEVELOPMENT AND TECHNICAL AS -1
SISTANCE.—An eligible entity may use— 2
(A) not more than 10 percent of amounts 3
awarded under this section to facilitate the pre- 4
development phase of a new facility, including 5
planning and design; and 6
(B) not more than 10 percent of amounts 7
awarded under this section to partner with a 8
community development financial institution 9
that provides technical assistance and capacity 10
building to help the eligible entity— 11
(i) submit applications to the Pro-12
gram; 13
(ii) support an eligible child care pro-14
vider that is home-based with meeting rel-15
evant State and local licensing and quality 16
standards; and 17
(iii) conduct pre-development activi-18
ties. 19
(f) A
SSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall provide tech-20
nical assistance and publish best practices online to facili-21
tate the operation of co-location facilities. 22
(g) R
EPORT TOCONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 23
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 24
thereafter for the duration of the Program, the Secretary 25
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shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 1
a report regarding the implementation of the Program, in-2
cluding— 3
(1) the number of grants awarded; 4
(2) a description of the activities funded; 5
(3) the number of child care slots created, in-6
cluding the number of child care slots serving chil-7
dren from low-income families or children who are 8
dual language learners; 9
(4) the number of child care slots preserved 10
that were at risk of elimination due to a child care 11
center closing or proposed price increases; 12
(5) the number and percentage of residents in 13
a co-location facility that use or are employed by the 14
associated child care program; 15
(6) the number of staff employed by the child 16
care provider; 17
(7) demographic data of residents of housing 18
facilities associated with the Program; 19
(8) the number and type of projects facilitated 20
through eligible uses of amounts described in para-21
graphs (2) and (3) of subsection (e); 22
(9) the number of early childhood providers 23
supported with funds from the Program; and 24
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(10) the number of eligible entities of each type 1
that receive grant funding under the Program. 2
(h) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 3
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 4
$100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2031. 5
SEC. 5. GAO STUDY AND REPORT REGARDING CHILD CARE 6
ACCESS FOR RESIDENTS OF PUBLIC HOUS-7
ING. 8
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 9
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 10
shall conduct a study and submit to the appropriate con-11
gressional committees a report on the availability and af-12
fordability of child care for residents of public housing 13
dwelling units, which shall include the following: 14
(1) A description of how amounts from the fol-15
lowing programs have been used by eligible child 16
care providers to establish, renovate, or improve fa-17
cilities: 18
(A) The community development block 19
grant program under title I of the Housing and 20
Community Development Act of 1974 (42 21
U.S.C. 5301 et seq.). 22
(B) New markets tax credits under section 23
45D of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 24
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(C) The Community Development Finan-1
cial Institutions Fund established under section 2
104(a) of the Community Development Bank-3
ing and Financial Institutions Act of 1994 (42 4
U.S.C. 4703(a)). 5
(D) Low-income housing tax credits under 6
section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code of 7
1986. 8
(E) Capital Magnet Fund funds under sec-9
tion 1339 of the Federal Housing Enterprises 10
Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 11
(12 U.S.C. 4569). 12
(F) HOME Investment Partnerships Pro-13
gram funds under title II of the Cranston-Gon-14
zalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 15
U.S.C. 12721 et seq.). 16
(2) An evaluation of the effects of housing and 17
child care costs on the economic outlook of residents 18
of public housing dwelling units. 19
(3) An evaluation of what percentage of resi-20
dents of public housing dwelling units are both— 21
(A) cost-burdened, as defined by the Sec-22
retary; and 23
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(B) part of a household where not less 1
than 7 percent of the income of the household 2
is spent on child care. 3
(4) Identification and analysis of State or local 4
laws that are barriers to building or maintaining a 5
facility for use by eligible child care providers within 6
or near a public housing dwelling unit. 7
(5) An assessment of how housing assistance 8
provided under the program for rental assistance 9
under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 10
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) affects the ability of resi-11
dents of public housing dwelling units to afford child 12
care and other essential expenses, including— 13
(A) food; 14
(B) telecommunications services and equip-15
ment such as broadband internet connectivity 16
and cellular phones; and 17
(C) means of transportation such as auto-18
mobiles, bicycles, or public transportation. 19
(6) An evaluation of the efficacy of the child 20
and dependent care tax credit under section 21 of 21
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the earned in-22
come tax credit under section 32 of the Internal 23
Revenue Code of 1986, the child tax credit under 24
section 24 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 25
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and dependent care flexible spending arrangements 1
for residents of public housing dwelling units, includ-2
ing— 3
(A) the degree of public knowledge about 4
such programs; 5
(B) the degree of success of outreach or 6
public education programs regarding such pro-7
grams; and 8
(C) an assessment of the sufficiency of 9
each program to cover the costs of child care. 10
(7) An evaluation of the extent that residents of 11
public housing dwelling units receive information re-12
garding child care resources from Federal agencies 13
or public housing agencies. 14
(8) Recommendations to improve access to child 15
care within and near public housing dwelling units 16
and to improve awareness of the availability of Fed-17
eral programs to assist with the costs of housing and 18
child care. 19
Æ
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