Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Make Our Streets Safe Again Act” or the “MOSSA Act”.
Make Our Streets Safe Again Act
A BILL
To help end crime and disorder on America’s streets.
Sec. 2 Ending crime and disorder on America’s streets
Restoring civil commitment— The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall take appropriate action to—
seek, in appropriate cases, the reversal of Federal or State judicial precedents and the termination of consent decrees that impede the United States policy of encouraging civil commitment of individuals with mental illness who pose risks to themselves or the public or are living on the streets and cannot care for themselves in appropriate facilities for appropriate periods of time; and
provide assistance to State and local governments, through technical guidance, grants, or other legally available means, for the identification, adoption, and implementation of maximally flexible civil commitment, institutional treatment, and “step-down” treatment standards that allow for the appropriate commitment and treatment of individuals with mental illness who pose a danger to others or are living on the streets and cannot care for themselves.
Fighting vagrancy on America’s streets—
Priority in discretionary grant programs— The Attorney General, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and the Secretary of Transportation shall take immediate steps to assess their discretionary grant programs and determine whether priority for those grants may be given to grantees in States and municipalities that, to the maximum extent permitted by law—
enforce prohibitions on open illicit drug use;
enforce prohibitions on urban camping and loitering;
enforce prohibitions on urban squatting;
enforce, and where necessary, adopt, standards that address individuals who are a danger to themselves or others and suffer from serious mental illness or substance use disorder, or who are living on the streets and cannot care for themselves, through assisted outpatient treatment or by moving them into treatment centers or other appropriate facilities via civil commitment or other available means, to the maximum extent permitted by law; or
substantially implement and comply with, to the extent required, the registration and notification obligations of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (34 U.S.C. 20901 et seq.), particularly in the case of registered sex offenders with no fixed address, including by adequately mapping and checking the location of homeless sex offenders.
Duties of Attorney General— The Attorney General shall—
ensure that homeless individuals arrested for Federal crimes are evaluated, consistent with section 4248 of title 18, United States Code, to determine whether they are sexually dangerous persons and certified accordingly for civil commitment;
take all necessary steps to ensure the availability of funds under the Emergency Federal Law Enforcement Assistance program to support, as consistent with sections 609M through 609Y of the Justice Assistance Act of 1984 (34 U.S.C. 50101 et seq.), encampment removal efforts in areas for which public safety is at risk and State and local resources are inadequate;
assess Federal resources to determine whether they may be directed toward ensuring, to the extent permitted by law, that detainees with serious mental illness are not released into the public because of a lack of forensic bed capacity at appropriate local, State, and Federal jails or hospitals; and
enhance requirements that prisons and residential reentry centers that are under the authority of the Attorney General or receive funding from the Attorney General require in-custody housing release plans and, to the maximum extent practicable, require individuals to comply.
Redirecting Federal resources toward effective methods of addressing homelessness—
Duties of HHS Secretary— The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall take appropriate action to—
ensure that discretionary grants issued by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery fund evidence-based programs and do not fund programs that fail to achieve adequate outcomes, including so-called “harm reduction” or “safe consumption” efforts that only facilitate illegal drug use and its attendant harm;
provide technical assistance to assisted outpatient treatment programs for individuals with serious mental illness or addiction during and after the civil commitment process focused on shifting such individuals off of the streets and public programs and into private housing and support networks; and
ensure that Federal funds for federally qualified health centers and certified community behavioral health clinics reduce rather than promote homelessness by supporting, to the maximum extent permitted by law, comprehensive services for individuals with serious mental illness and substance use disorder, including crisis intervention services.
Duties of Attorney General— The Attorney General shall prioritize available funding to support the expansion of drug courts and mental health courts for individuals for which such diversion serves public safety.
Increasing accountability and safety in America’s homelessness programs—
Accountability in grants for homelessness assistance— The Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall take appropriate actions to increase accountability in their provision of, and grants awarded for, homelessness assistance and transitional living programs. These actions shall include, to the extent permitted by law—
ending support for “housing first” policies that deprioritize accountability and fail to promote treatment, recovery, and self-sufficiency;
increasing competition among grantees through broadening the applicant pool; and
holding grantees to higher standards of effectiveness in reducing homelessness and increasing public safety.
Requirement for substance abuse treatment and mental health services— The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall, as appropriate, take steps to require recipients of Federal housing and homelessness assistance to increase requirements that persons participating in the recipients’ programs who suffer from substance use disorder or serious mental illness use substance abuse treatment or mental health services as a condition of participation.
Duties with respect to drug sites and distribution— With respect to recipients of Federal housing and homelessness assistance that operate drug injection sites or “safe consumption sites”, knowingly distribute drug paraphernalia, or permit the use or distribution of illicit drugs on property under their control—
the Attorney General shall review whether such recipients are in violation of Federal law, including section 416 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 856), and bring civil or criminal actions in appropriate cases; and
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in coordination with the Attorney General, shall review whether such recipients are in violation of the terms of the programs pursuant to which they receive Federal housing and homelessness assistance and freeze their assistance as appropriate.
Stopping sex offenders— The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall take appropriate measures and revise regulations as necessary to allow, where permissible under applicable law, federally funded programs to exclusively house women and children and to stop sex offenders who receive homelessness assistance through such programs from being housed with unrelated children.
Data collection— The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall, as appropriate and to the extent permitted by law—
allow or require the recipients of Federal funding for homelessness assistance to collect health-related information that the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development identifies as necessary to the effective and efficient operation of the funding program from all persons to whom such assistance is provided; and
require those funding recipients to share such data with law enforcement authorities in circumstances permitted by law and to use the collected health data to provide appropriate medical care to individuals with mental health diagnoses or to connect individuals to public health resources.
Rule of construction— Nothing in this section shall be construed—
to impair or otherwise affect the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals; or
to create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.